Hatake Naruto
by NoNameNeeded
Summary: What would Naruto be like if he hadn't lived alone for the whole of his life? When he was 7, he was saved from a beating and he was taken in by his savior... some OCish characters... DISCONTINUED!
1. Introduction

The sun had already begun to set as Kakashi was on his way home after having dinner with some of his fellow jounins. His head was dug deep down into his beloved book; Icha Icha Paradise. He was almost home when he heard a noise coming from a nearby ally way. Curious, he decided to go see what the commotion was about, but when he reached the destination, the sight he saw was horrific. He saw about thirty men of a large build, beating up a kid, no older then seven.

Enraged by this, he quickly popped his book into his pocket and ran over to the scene. Once there, he started to throw the men off of the boy, knocking them unconscious. When they were all out, he picked up the boy gently and took him home to his apartment.

Once there, he laid the boy down on the bed in the guest room. He quickly went to get some water and a sponge, bringing them back to the room which the boy was in. He took the sponge, soaked it in water and started to clean the face of the boy. Then he took off the kid's shirt to examine the wounds, but what he saw horrified him, it was much worse then he thought. There were large blur bruises, patches of raw flesh and deep gashes everywhere.

He took the sponge, rinsed it and began to clean the wounds, Everytime he re-rinsed the sponge, the water turned a darker red.

When he was done, he left to get some bandages and when he returned, he dropped them in shock as he saw that nearly all of the wounds were healed, steam rising from them. He picked up the bandages from the floor and decided to wrap the injuries just in case. When done, he brought out a t-shirt and dressed the boy in it, so that it looked like he was wearing a large male nightdress.

_**The next morning…**_

When Kakashi had woken up and got dressed, he went to go check up on his guest. When he entered, he found him still sleeping, however, when he sat down on a nearby chair, the boy woke up.

He looked around, taking in the new surroundings, before noticing a man, with a mask covering the lower half of his face, sitting on a chair, looking at him. At first he was scared, but then he noticed that there was no killing intent directed towards him and that the strange man seemed calm, so he relaxed.

"Did you sleep well?" The strange man asked casually. The boy only nodded in response. "Are you hungry?" The man questioned as he stood up. Again, the boy nodded, at this the strange man left through the door.

Minutes later the man came back, holding a tray with a bowl full of cereal on it. He then placed it in front of the boy before saying, "Enjoy."

When the boy was about half way through his meal, the man said, "By the way, my name is Hatake Kakashi, and I'm a friend so you have no need to worry… oh and before I forget, what's your name?"

The boy looked a little hesitant before he mumbled, "Uzumaki Naruto."

"… How old are?"

"Seven." When Kakashi heard this he was enraged. _How could anyone hurt a boy of that age… He can't even protect himself from one man, let alone thirty…_

_**One week later…**_

Naruto had settled in a bit at Kakashi's house, some colour had returned to his cheeks and his eyes seemed more bright. So Kakashi decided to go and talk to the Hokage.

When he reached the door leading to the Hokage's office, he knocked, entering after hearing a 'hn' from the Hokage, which signaled for him to come in.

When the Hokage looked up, he smiled before saying, "What brings you here Kakashi?"

"Sarutobi,, just over a week ago, whilst I was on my way home, I found a boy of seven being beaten by a large crowd of men. He was defenceless and they would have killed him if they had got the chance." When he had finished, the 3rd looked sad.

"Tell me, is the boys name, by any chance, Uzumaki Naruto?" Kakashi nodded. "Well I'm sad to say that this isn't the first time which this has happened."

"Why's that?"

"Don't you know who the boy is. He's the child which contains the nine-tailed fox, Kyuubi. All of the civilians fear and hate him for that. They think he is the demon and therefore they want him dead."

"But he's just a helpless little boy and besides, he only contains the demon, he isn't actually one himself."

"I know, but no-one else realises that."

"Then, would you mind if I take him in, so that he'll be living with me and he'll have my protection."

"If this is what you want, then by al means, take him in. But be warned, once everyone else finds out, they'll also be treating you differently."

"Well if that is the case, then may I suggest changing his name to Hatake Naruto. I won't adopt him or anything, but he shall have the name of my clan and be living as they would."

"Very well. "

"Good." And with that, Kakashi left.

_**Five years later…**_

Naruto was now twelve years old and he was soon to take part in the final genin exam. His teacher was a man with the name of Umino Iruka. There were twenty-six other students in his class.

He was in one of his lessons. Everyone, apart from a few people, were chatting rather loudly and Iruka-sensei's face was turning bright red from shouting at everyone to be quiet and pay attention in his lessons.

"Everyone SHUT UP!" As soon as Iruka shouted this, everyone immediately turned to him, sitting straight and no sound coming from any of their mouths.

"Good… now we can carry on. Remember, everything that I'm teaching you is vital for your upcoming exams if you are to pass. So listen to what I am telling you." When Iruka finished this, he turned his back to them and started writing on the board.

When the day's lessons had finished, the first ones to leave were Naruto and a fellow classmate who went by the name of Uchiha Sasuke. He wore a blue turtle-neck t shirt, which had the Uchiha clan symbol on the back; a red fan, and he had a white pair of shorts on.

Naruto wore an orange t-shirt, indigo trousers which had many pockets on, a black jacket which always remained unzipped and he had a mask which covered the bottom half of his face, which was almost identical to the one that Kakashi wore, except that it was smaller.

The two of them always hung out together, actually, they were almost always both in hiding from their fan clubs. They both had equally sized groups of girls who were always running after them and asking for dates and the sort. Neither of them enjoyed this, but they found that they couldn't do anything to prevent it except hide.

Every time that they left a room, they would be followed by those damn girls.

At the moment, the two of them were on top of the roof tops, somewhere far away from the academy.

"Just think, next week when we get put into our genin teams, we won't have to deal with these damn fan clubs anymore." Naruto said casually.

"Unless we're put into groups with two of them then it'll get even worse."

"Yeah, they'll want to spend even more time with us, saying that we should since we're a team and stuff like that."

"Hn."

Later that evening, Naruto headed home, careful of passing fan girls. But he managed to get home unnoticed. He went into his room and lay on the bed out of exhaustion, soon falling asleep.

_**One week later…**_

"Congratulations everyone, you all passed!" Iruka shouted, but out of happiness for once. "I will now be calling out the groups…" As he was calling out the groups, both Naruto and Sasuke had their eyes closed, hoping for a half decent team. "… Team seven will consist of; Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno… and Hatake Naruto." At this, the pink haired kunoichi, known as Sakura, jumped up in joy as she had been put in the same group as the two most popular boys in their year.

Neither Naruto nor Sasuke reacted to this as they were both happy that they were in the same team, but annoyed at having a member who was one of the, if not the most, obsessive girl in their class.

"Your senseis will soon arrive to get you, so wait here patiently until then."

One by one, teams were leaving with their senseis, until there was only one team left; team seven. Nearly two hours had passed and still no sensei came to get them.

Out of shear boredom, Naruto decided to set up a prank for the oncoming sensei. He went over to the door, opened it slightly and placed an over used chalk board eraser on top of the door frame, so that it would land on the head of the first person to come into the room.

They waited another hour before they heard some footsteps heading towards the door. As soon as the door opened, the eraser landed straight onto the guys head with a small cloud of chalk dust.

"Kakashi… You're our sensei?" Naruto blurted out.

"If you're team seven, then it would appear so…. We'll be meeting up on the roof in ten minutes so that we can all get acquainted." With that, Kakashi was gone in a poof.

_**Up on the roof…**_

Everyone was present, Naruto and Sasuke sat on the step next to each other and Sakura sat on the floor so that she was between the two. Kakashi was sitting on the raised edge of the wall.

"Why don't we all introduce ourselves and say something about ourselves." Kakashi suggested.

"What do you mean Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked cheerfully.

"I mean like your name, likes and dislikes, hobbies and dreams and that sort."

"Ok then, why don't you start, seeing as you're our sensei."

"Oh… ok… My name in Hatake Kakashi, you don't need to know my likes or dislikes, I have many hobbies and my dream is well… 'my' dream, so none of you need to know." Everyone sweatdropped at this, as they hadn't really learnt anything about it. "Why don't you go next?" Kakashi said, pointing at the pink haired kunoichi.

"Well… my name is Haruno Sakura… my dislikes are… hehehe" she looked up at both of her teammates." My dislikes are people like Ino-pig, my hobbies are… hehehe," again, she looked up at her two teammates, "and my dream is to show that I'm more then just a pretty face and… hehehe… "she giggled whilst looking up at her two teammates, for the third time. _A fangirl? This couldn't get any worse… She cares more about love then becoming a ninja…_ Kakashi thought to himself. He then pointed at Sasuke.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I have many dislikes and not so many likes. I have few hobbies and I don't have a dream as it is more of an ambition, I want to restore my clan and kill… a certain someone." _This one could be trouble…_ Kakashi thought before pointing at Naruto.

"I already know about you, and I'm sure that these two also do, so there is no need for you to tell us about yourself… Alright, you'll all be taking a test tomorrow to see if you are ready to become a genin team. So meat at training ground eleven at eight and I would suggest that none of you have breakfast tomorrow morning, unless you like throwing up." He was then gone in a poof.

"Hn… knowing him, he'll be late tomorrow, so there isn't really any risk of eating breakfast tomorrow morning." Naruto commented.

"Hn." Was his reply from Sasuke.


	2. The Bell Test

**I managed to find some time to write this chapter. Sorry if you think that it's short, but I have exams and I didn't have that much time…**

**Disclaimer: I sadly don't own Naruto… (I will only say this once, so remember it, if I suddenly own Naruto, I'll let you all know) **

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It was the morning where team seven would be taking their test with their sensei, Kakashi. The three of them were already at the training grounds, however, their sensei wasn't yet present, so they waited… and waited… 

"Hey, Naruto. You got any idea what Kakashi-sensei is going to do?" Sasuke said as he was resting against a tree. Naruto was resting on a neighboring tree and Sakura was sitting in front of the two, never taking her eyes off of them.

"Nope… no idea…" Naruto replied lazily.

They waited another hour before they heard a poof, followed by the presence of their sensei. "Sorry I'm late guys… I got lost on the way here."

"Hey! You're lying!" Sakura shouted angrily. She had her fist pointing at him and flames burning in her eyes. But deep down, she was thankful that he was late, as she had been able to spend some alone time with her two teammates.

"Well… anyway… I guess we should get going with the test then." All three nodded to their sensei's statement. "Ok guys. You all have until noon to get a hold of one of the two bells. You'll need a bell by the time that the timer rings, otherwise you won't become a genin."

"What! But we already took our exam and we all have our forehead protectors to prove it." She said, pointing to a metal plate attached on a piece of fabric, tied around her forehead. Sasuke also had his on his forehead, however, Naruto had his around his neck.

"That's where you're wrong. Since I'm your sensei, I can do what I want with you, even if that means stripping you all of your titles as genin." Kakashi retorted with a devilish little voice. "Now, BEGIN!" At this, the three genins scattered out in different directions, heading out to the trees, whilst Kakashi remained in the open.

Seconds later, the three of them met up.

"Ok… do we… have a… plan?" Sakura said whilst she was she was taking in large amounts of air.

"One." Naruto said. He then put his hands and made a cross shape and said "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu." There was a poof and there, standing next to Naruto, was an exact clone of him. "Ok, I want you two and my clone to run around in a circle around Kakashi, but stay in the trees. Make sure that he notices you and throw a couple of kunais and shurikans at him so that he'll be distracted. Then I'll trap him so he won't be able to move."

"But how'll you be able to do that. He's a jounin." Sakura blurted out.

"I know that perfectly well. However, I have a couple of tricks up my sleeve. Anyway… When he is trapped, Sakura, you'll go and grab the bells from him and Sasuke, you'll grab his beloved book, so that we can keep it hostage if he were to get free or maybe to make a deal with him or something. I know how much he loves that damn perverted book of his... Got it?" The other two nodded. "Good." And with that, Sasuke, Sakura and the clone began their part of the plan.

Naruto moved a bit closer to the edge of the forest, making sure that he wasn't seen be Kakashi.

_**Back with Kakashi…**_

He was reading his book when he noticed his students all running through the trees around him. _Hn… They don't even know how to keep themselves hidden… How on Earth did they become genin? _Just then, kunais came heading towards him, but he managed to easily dodge them all. _They don't even know how to use their weapons properly…_

**_Back with Naruto…_**

Naruto had been watching Kakashi intently for about five minutes before he began his part of the plan. He crouched down before putting his hands together, forming the seal of the ram. He mouthed some words to himself before placing his right hand flat down onto the ground. Nothing visible was happening, but something would be happening soon enough.

**_Back with Kakashi…_**

_Aren't these guys soon gonna realise that what they're doing isn't going to work, besides, I'm getting bored… but on the plus side, this gives me an opportunity to read my book… hehehe… _

Just then, the ground erupted and produced a hand the size of bed which quickly grabbed a hold of him. The hand had sharp claws and was made of chakra which was the colour of blood red. Then, Sasuke, Sakura and the clone appeared. The clone poofed away, Sakura went over to Kakashi, as did Sasuke. She took the two bells and he took the perverted book.

Then the giant hand gently placed Kakashi back down on the ground before retracting itself to where it came from. Then, a couple seconds later, Naruto appeared out of where he came from and stood next to his teammates.

Sakura then began, "Since you said that only two can pass, we'll give you back the bells. We just wanted to prove to you that we could easily get the bells from you." And with that, she threw the two bells to their sensei.

"He-hey… what about my book?" Kakashi pleaded, a little too desperately. Everyone sweatdropped at their sensei.

"I suppose we could give it back… but why don't we make things more interesting… We'll make a deal; if you pass us all, then we'll give you back your book. Deal?" Sasuke said slyly.

"Sure!" Sasuke threw the book over to their slightly embarrassing sensei.

"But just to make it clear. The aim of the test was not to get the bells. You have to read underneath the underneath. The point of the test was for you to use teamwork… which you did, so… You all passed anyway." Kakashi said cheerfully. _Well, well, well… I didn't expect this, let alone from a new team of genin._

"Congratulation… now, we will be meeting at ten tomorrow morning, right here. Don't be late."

The three genins were then on their way back into the village. "Naruto! Can I talk to you for a minute?" Kakashi shouted after them. Naruto stopped and slowly turned around to walk towards his sensei and savior.

"What is it Kakashi-sensei?"

"What technique did you use back there? I have never seen it before."

Naruto smirked before replying, "That's because I'm the only one who is able to do it. It is called the 'ninth demonic claw'. You see, there are nine different types, 1 belonging to each demon. So I have the ninth, for obvious reasons. The ninth is also the most powerful of the nine."

"So when did you learn it?

"About a month ago, whilst I was training."

"I see… So you're telling me that you are able to communicate with, you know who?"

"Yep! Been able to for about half a year now…"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Same reason you don't tell me things."

"I suppose I'm not really surprised by that… Are there any other… special… jutsus or techniques that you are able to do?"

"Maybe, maybe not. I guess that you'll just have to find out by yourself." And with that, Naruto started his way to where his teammates had gone

* * *

**In case anyone was confused about the 'ninth demonic claw', it is identical to those seen in the fight between Naruto and Sasuke when they fight in the Valley of the End. Naruto uses them (though they are not called the 'ninth demonic claw') when he was using the Kyuubi's chakra in episode 107, (I think).**


	3. The Mission Begins

**Oh look... I found some time to write this chapter. Sorry if you think it is a bit short, but I used some of my revision time to write this... Hope you all like it...**

**Disclaimer: I do not, and sadly, will not own Naruto... (sobs!)**

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A week later, Naruto was walking through the streets, just enjoying the nice and quiet weather. He rounded a corner and 

_Bump…_

He had rammed right into someone. When he looked up to see who it was, he saw no-one, so he looked down and saw who it was. It was a girl his age who had short indigo hair and white eyes with a hint of lilac.

Naruto offers her his hand and she takes it. He pulls her up to her feet before saying, "Sorry Hinata, I didn't see you there."

"No, no… it wasn't your fault, I wasn't looking where I was going." She said quietly whilst blushing. She would usually stutter when talking to people but she didn't when it was only her and Naruto.

"So… where were you going?" Naruto asks casually.

"Back home to the Hyuuga compound."

"I see. I'll accompany you there. It is only right that I do." He replied. She only smiled and nodded before the two of them started their way to the Hyuuga compound.

When they had reached their destination, the two entered through the gates. They walked over to the main building and they both stopped.

"I guess I should be going now." Naruto said.

Hinata smiled before saying, "Thank you for walking me back." Naruto smiled back and headed for the gate. But before he got there, he came across a tall man with long brown hair and eyes the same as Hinata's.

"Good Morning Naruto. It's nice to see you again." The man said respectfully.

"It's nice to see you too, Hiashi." Naruto replied before Hiashi walked off again. Naruto then turned and walked out of the gates and headed off towards one of the more hidden training grounds.

_**The next day…**_

Team seven and their sensei were all in the Hokage's office, after having completed a series of D-rank missions the day before and were now finishing reporting for them all. The third was sitting at his desk, whilst the rest were standing on the other side of the desk.

"Good, good. I have some more D-rank missions for you all to do." At this, the three genins groaned. They were all sick and tired of doing random chores, picking up litter, gardening and catching that damn cat that always ran away from his owner. The latter one was the most common mission for their team. They all felt sorry for the cat, it was always being smothered and tortured with love by it's owner, the senate's wife.

"Can't we do a higher ranked mission or something?" Naruto complained in a monotonous voice, with a slight hint of annoyance.

"You are all only genin, and new ones at that. The higher ranked missions are for the higher level ninjas." Sarutobi explained.

"Oh come on. Pleeeaaassseee…" Sakura begged.

"Yeah, come on… Give us a chance." Sasuke backed up.

"I'm sorry about this Hokage." Kakashi apologised. He was holding back Sasuke and Sakura whilst standing in front of Naruto.

"It's quite alright Kakashi. In fact, I've got a C-rank mission which you can do. It's simple, all you have to do is escort a bridge builder, named Tazuna, back to the land of waves and protect him whilst he finishes the bridge which is currently being built there." Just then in came a man in his fifties, holding a sake bottle.

"You mean to tell me that you want mere kids to protect me?" Tazuna said in a rather loud voice, sounding slightly drunk. But as soon as he said the last word, there was a claw, with a bright red aura around it at his neck and a kunai poking him in his slightly bulges stomach. When he managed to look down to see who were the ones 'threatening' him, he saw that the glowing claw belonged to the boy with blond hair and that the kunai belonged to the boy with raven hair. His facial expression was that of shock as he hadn't even seen them move.

"Appearances can be deceiving." Naruto said quietly, yet deadly. The two of them then released Tazuna, Sasuke placing his kunai back into his pouch and the claws and glow retracting back into Naruto's hand. The two of them then slowly walked back to where they were previously standing.

"Now that you have been acquainted, you may leave. You'll all be meeting at the gate in one hour and start your mission." The third said, and with that team seven and Kakashi left, Tazuna stopping in his tracks as Sarutobi had motioned for him to stay.

"Don't underestimate this team, it is much stronger then it would appear." He then waved his hand, meaning that Tazuna should leave him so that he would be able to carry on with his oh so fun paperwork.

_**One hour later…**_

All of them were now there and even Kakashi wasn't late. So they all headed out towards the country of the waves.

They had all been walking for a couple of hours before they passed a puddle on the ground. Only Kakashi and Naruto noticed it. Naruto closed his eyes and put his hands together, forming the seal of the horse.

_**In Kakashi's mind…**_

As soon as Kakashi had seen the puddle he began thinking, rather then reading his book. _A puddle? That's too obvious as it hasn't rained in days and the weather has been hotter then usual… _As he carried on pondering these thoughts, he heard another voice in his head.

'_Kakashi-sensei, it's me, Naruto… Don't freak out, this is just one of my special techniques. Anyway, did you notice that puddle back there… it was an odd site… there shouldn't be any puddles around, at least not with the weather which we've been having…'_

_I was actually just thinking of that myself… But carry on walking, we don't want the others to get nervous or anything… but be on your guard…_

'_Ok sensei…'_

Naruto then released the seal and opened his eyes and pretended that nothing had happened and carried on walking.

Minutes later, two shinobi jumped out of the trees and slashed Kakashi into pieces with a chain which they held between them. Everyone turned around in horror, except for Naruto who stood there quietly. He then calmly, "Everyone, we must protect Tazuna." When they heard this, Sasuke and Sakura stood on either side of Tazuna, armed and ready, though you could easily tell that they were both anxious about the situation.

The two foreign shinobi headed towards Tazuna had a high speed but were cut off by A kunai which hooked the chain to a nearby tree, with the two shinobi flying back with it. They then managed to dislodge their chain and headed their way towards Naruto. However, Naruto saw this coming and performed some unknown hand seals and mouthing some strange words to himself. Just then, dozens needles made of red chakra came flying towards the two shinobi, giving them no time to defend themselves. However, they appeared to have no effect on them as it seemed that they just passed through them.

But then, the two shinobi fell to the ground, unable to move. Naruto went over to inspect them but it seemed that one of them was still able to move his arm as he managed to make a small gash on the back on Naruto's hand before Naruto stomped on it, producing a snapping sound, as if a bone had been broken.

"Wha-wha-what did you do to them Naruto?" Kakashi said as he reappeared from behind the bushes.

"Where have you been? I was waiting for you to come out." Naruto retorted, but not really caring that much as he had managed to disable the enemy anyway.

"I was checking to see if there were any other foreign shinobi around, but when I was coming back, I saw that you all had everything under control."

"I guess." They all said.

"But Naruto, I think you ought to get that cut on your hand checked as their claws had been dipped in poison." Naruto looked down on his hand and found the cut. He then drew out a kunai and cut it even more open, allowing the blood with the poison in to get out of his system.

"That was a good idea and all Naruto, but you've lost a lot blood and that could be dangerous.

Naruto only chuckled lightly as he said that he knew what he was doing. He then placed his other hand on top of the wound to hide the steam rising from it. He didn't want his teammates to see his wound suddenly disappear into nothing. That would only raise unwanted suspicion.

So, after leaving the two enemy shinobi tied to a tree, they carried on with their journey. Kakashi had said that a couple of ANBU would come to pick up the two, so they had nothing to worry about.

Naruto then, again, made the seal of the horse with his hands.

'_Kakashi-sensei… Back then, I used some Demonic Chakra Needles to rip their muscles so that they would be unable to use them. They shouldn't be any danger for a while…'_

Then he released the seal and carried on.

* * *

**The Demonic Chakra Needles look like senbon needles, except that they are made from red chakra. They can be used to damage any part of the body, in this case, the muscles.**


	4. Getting There

**Wooo!... I managed to another chapter, even though I wasn't supposed to be on the computer... oops... **

**oh well... Enjoy! (I do not own Naruto)**

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The five of them had been walking for about two hours since their incident earlier. They hadn't come across any further troubles and the weather stayed bright and sunny. Naruto was walking in front of Tazuna, Sasuke was on Tazuna's left and Sakura was on his right whilst Kakashi was at the back, his eyes glued deep down into his book.

Everyone was quiet before Kakashi broke the silence, "Why were those men after you back there?"

This startled Tazuna. He was quiet before answering, "Hehe… what do you mean?" Everyone could tell that Tazuna was lying. Tazuna noticed this, so he said, "The bridge that I am building at the moment will link the wave country to the main land. It is being built to give hope back to the villagers. For years, a man named Gatou had terrorized everyone and taking in all of the profits and trade. The bridge will become a link of trade for us… When Gatou heard of this, he was furious and wanted me dead to crush the last of the spirit which we have left."

"That I can understand… but what I don't is why you said it was a C-ranked mission when it would be at least a B-rank." Kakashi said thoughtfully.

"It's simple… we can't afford any higher, it was hard enough getting the money for a C-rank."

"I see…" Kakashi didn't manage to finish what he was saying as he was interrupted by Naruto,

"We're still going to finish this mission, no matter what." He stated, not looking back at the rest. Everyone else just nodded and carried on.

Another hour past and the journey continued without a sound.

But then, Naruto suddenly collapsed unconscious onto the ground. Sasuke and Sakura both ran over to him.

"Wha-what happened to him? He was f-fine a couple seconds ago." Sakura whimpered.

"I guess that some of the jutsus that he uses put a strain on his body." Kakashi stated.

"Now that I think about, I've never seen some of those jutsus before. They are unbelievable." Sasuke admired, though still worried for his comrade.

"Yeah… what jutsus were they?" Sakura questioned.

Kakashi thought for a while as he didn't quite know how to answer. "… Well… I can't really say…"

"What do you mean 'you can't really say'? Do you know or don't you?" Sakura said impatiently.

He let out a sigh and continued, "I only know the basics, but it is not my place to say." After he said that he walked over to Naruto and slung him over on his back, putting him into a piggy back position. They then all carried on with their journey.

_**Two days later…**_

They had finally reached wave country, after their long walk and ferry trip across the water. Naruto had woken up the previous day, but was still slightly tired from his attacks.

They were nearing a house of a comfortable size. Tazuna claimed that this was where he lived. When they entered they were greeted by a woman who had long dark hair.

Tazuna then introduced everyone, "This is my daughter, Tsunami. She has a son named Inari, but I'm guessing he's up in his room."

The woman known as Tsunami bowed to the team and said, "Thank you all, for doing this." She then stood up again and headed her way into the kitchen to prepare some lunch for the guests.

After lunch, the team and their sensei went out to find a decent training area for them to train at. They were all doing target practice, mainly with shurikans and kunais. After about two hours of this, Kakashi stopped them and motioned for them to come over to him.

"All right everyone, I think that'll do for today. I want you all to rest for tomorrow as we'll be improving your chakra control." Kakashi said and they all nodded to the declaration. He then waved his hand, meaning that they could all leave now. So they stood up and headed their way to Tazuna's house. But before they were completely gone, Kakashi shouted, "Naruto, can I speak with you for a minute." Naruto stopped, turned and immediately came back to his sensei.

"What is it sensei?"

"I don't want you using any of your… special… jutsus unless it is needed. I've seen what harm it does to you if you use it too much like that."

"But sensei, it's nothing that I can't handle."

"I'm sure, but I don't want you to suddenly pass out again, what if we need you?"

"Oh…ok."

"Good, now go and rest for tomorrow, and don't even think about doing any extra training behind my back with that 'friend' of yours. I'll know it if you do." Kakashi then smiled before heading back into the woods somewhere. Naruto just shrugged and headed the same direction as his teammates.

_**The next morning…**_

The three genins had woken up and were now downstairs eating breakfast. Kakashi then came and sat at the end of the table, smiling before saying, "You guys ready for today's training?"

They all looked up and nodded before Naruto said, "But how will we improve our chakra control?"

"Simple… by climbing trees." He then smiled again as he saw the reactions of his pupils. Their eyes were wide with shock and their jaws were down on the ground. The wind blew slightly and could be easily heard as everyone sat there silently. Kakashi chuckled before saying, "Meet me where we were yesterday in twenty minutes." He then stood up and left through the door. The others picked up their jaws and finished their breakfast.

_**At the training grounds…**_

The genins were all there now and waited patiently for their belated sensei. He finally arrived and put his hand up just before they managed to complain.

"I know what you're all thinking. Bu the tree climbing will actually help, as you'll be doing it without your hands." His students were now staring at him out of confusion. "Alright, I'll show you how to do it once." He then put his hands together and formed the seal of the ram. His feet then began to glow blue as chakra was emitted there. He released the seal and gently walked over to the tree. He put one foot on it and walked vertically up, making it look as easy as walking on flat ground.

Everyone else just stood there in awe as they all thought that it was amazing. Their sensei soon returned back to where they were and said, "Do as I do but I would advise for you to have a run up start to give you a boost. Also, use a kunai to mark on the tree where you reach so that you'll be able to see how much you improve and where to aim your next run." He then poofed away, leaving the three genin there, who then picked a tree each and began their training.

After about half and hour, Sakura got to the top of the tree. She would have reached it earlier if she hadn't been daydreaming about two certain teammates of hers. She enjoyed being able to see them train and work hard, showing all of their strength and the sort. She then jumped back down to the ground and sat there, but that didn't last that long as Kakashi appeared next to her.

"Good, I see that you've managed to complete today's training. Why don't you go over to the bridge and keep an eye out for any trouble." The kunoichi nodded and headed off in the direction of the bridge.

Kakashi stayed in the shadow, analysing the other genin's approach at the tree climbing. He noticed that Sasuke wasn't keeping the chakra in his feet at a constant rate and that Naruto was releasing too much.

He went over to the two and pointed it out to them. They then smiled and noticed that the pointers which they had gotten actually helped and by the end of the day they had both managed to reach the top of their trees. When they reached the house in which they were staying at, the moon was already high up in the sky, shining brightly. They walked up to their rooms and fell asleep as soon as their heads reached their pillows.

_**The next day…**_

It was evening and team seven had just returned from another day of training. When they entered the house, they smelled food cooking so they obediently went and sat down by the table, waiting for the food to arrive.

After a while of silence, they heard footsteps coming down the stairs, they looked up and saw a small boy with brown hair, wearing a hat. He looked like his mind was in another place when he sat down by the table.

"Inari! It's nice to see that you decided to come down to eat dinner with us." Tsunami said cheerfully. Inari only nodded in response. His mum then put a plate of food in front of him and he slowly began to eat it, only taking small bites at a time.

"Kakashi-sensei, do you mind if I go out and train a bit more?" Naruto asked after he had finished his meal.

"Sure thing Naruto. But don't be out too late, like back home, ok?" Naruto nodded but before he got a chance to leave, Inari stood up with tears in his eyes.

"Why do you even bother! Even if you train, you can't beat Gatou's men! No matter how hard you work, or how big you talk! Against the strong, the weak lose!"

"Be quiet." Naruto said softly, yet full of seriousness.

"Shut up! Seeing you pisses me off! You don't even know anything about this country, yet you butt in! You haven't had a rough life! You're always having fun and laughing!"

"So like an actor in a tragic play, you're going to cry all day?" He said again in the manner he did previously

"Huh…"

"An idiot like you should just keep on crying! You little sissy!" Naruto raised his voice, filling it with venom. He then stood up hastily and left. Both sakura and Sasuke were shocked, they had never known Naruto to lose it like that. He had never really shown any emotion, but here he was, enraged by a little kid.

Inari just stood there, sobbing, before he left through the back door to the porch. He then sat down and stared at the clear night sky. Kakashi then came out and said, "Can I join you…?" Inari didn't respond, so Kakashi went over and sat next to him. They sat there in silence for a while before Kakashi broke the silence.

"Naruto didn't mean any harm by what he said earlier, sometimes he just doesn't use his head… we heard the story about your father from Tazuna… like you, Naruto also had a childhood without a father. Actually, he had never known his parents, and he never even had a single friend."

"Wha…"

"But… I have never heard him complain or cry even once. He always tries his best to get people to acknowledge him, even if it doesn't seem like it. He has a dream, and he'd risk his life to get it." Kakashi paused before carrying on.

"He's probably sick and tired of people crying… so he understands what it really means to be strong… just like your father. Naruto may understand your feelings better then anyone."

"…" Inari was now looking at him in the eye.

"What he said earlier is probably what he has told himself many times."

Inari looked back down again, realizing what had just happened. Kakashi carried on, "The same could also be said about Sasuke. The whole of his clan had been murdered by his older brother. He was only four when it happened, so he too, knows what it's like to live without a father."

"Bu... But I thought that you were Naruto's dad... I mean, he dresses like you and you have the same name..."

"Oh no... we're not related... I took him in a couple years back for reasons I can't say." Kakashi then sat there silently for a while before standing up and leaving for his room, leaving Inari deep in thought.

For the next week, Kakashi had been training two of his genins whilst the third would stand guard at the bridge. All three of them had improved so he decided that he would give the three of them a break for today.

Sasuke and Sakura were both downstairs eating breakfast when Kakashi came to join them.

"Kakashi-sensei, where's Naruto?" Sakura asked innocently when she had finished her cereal.

"He's upstairs sleeping. He was out all night training, even though I told him not to, again. So I'm letting him get his rest."

When the three of them had all finished, they headed towards the bridge with Tazuna, but when they got there, the sight was horrific. All of the workers were lying on the ground, either dead or unconscious.

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**Hope you liked it as much as I do... **


	5. The Fight

**Sorry, sorry, sorry... I did say that I wouldn't be able to write anymore this week, but... I had the idea and I really wanted to get this chapter done, so... here it is... hehe... ENJOY!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto (Why do we have to say that, it's obvious that we don't, otherwise we wouldn't be writing fanfics, now would we?)**

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"Wha... what happened here?" Tazuna said, baffled. Just then, a thick mist began to appear until it was everywhere. But just as he finished saying this, two men came into view, the taller one had bandages covering the bottom half of his face and the shorter one had long brown hair tied up and a solid mask covering the whole of his face.

"Well, well, well… If it isn't Sharingan Kakashi. No wonder the demon brothers couldn't defeat you." Said the taller one.

"Actually, Zabuza, I didn't do anything, it was my students who beat them."

"… I doubt that very much…" Zabuza said cheekily in a hoarse voice.

"True," Sasuke butted in, "It was Naruto who beat them…"

"And who, may I ask, is this Naruto?" Zabuza said, now obviously slightly pissed off.

"Well… he isn't here right now, he's resting."

"So he got injured in battle and he's still recovering?" Zabuza said mockingly followed by a short spout of laughter.

"No, he's resting from all of the extra training he's done." Sakura defended in a matter-of-factly way, then showing off a smile which said 'we're better then you think'.

_**Back at Tazuna's house…**_

Naruto slowly opened his eyes only to quickly close them shut again as the bright light burned them. He thought to himself, _What time is it? The sun's already out…_ He then looked around to see his teammates but noticed that none of them were there. _Damn! They left without me…_ But he was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a scream followed a something that sounded like a plate being smashed on the ground. He then heard a boy crying out for his mum.

_Oh shit!_ Was all he thought as he got up in his plain black pajamas and his mask which he never ever takes off. He didn't have time to change as he slowly walked downstairs, careful not to make any sound. Before he had left the room though, he had grabbed a couple of kunai, and some rope, just in case.

When he got downstairs, he saw two large men with samurai swords', standing above Tsunami and in the corner of the room was Inari, holding his head out of fear. Anger began to boil up in Naruto but he kept his cool. He waited for the right opportunity to strike. Once he saw an opening, he threw a kunai at each of the large men, hitting them in the back, thrusting them forward onto the floor ending with a loud thud. He then quickly ran over to the now unconscious men and tied them together tightly with the rope.

"Naruto!" Inari shouted after he had taken in what head just happened. He had stood up and leapt at Naruto, embracing him in a tight hug whilst crying.

He then let go and put is hands to his eyes, rubbing them. "I promised that I wouldn't cry again…" But before he was allowed to finished, he was interrupted by Naruto,

"It's alright to cry when you're happy."

"Wha…"

"I said; it's alright to cry when you're happy."

Inari then put on a smile which went from one side of his face to the other whilst more tears were flowing down from his eyes. He then embraced Naruto again in a tighter hug then before. "Thank you… Naruto…"

Naruto then pushed himself away from Inari and headed his way towards the stairs, but not before saying, "You're the man of the house now. Protect your mother." With that he ran up the stairs, quickly got changed, ran back down again and headed out the door towards the bridge.

_**Back at the incomplete bridge…**_

"Haku, which one do you want?" Zabuza asked his apprentice.

"I'll take the emo kid." At this, Sasuke winced, he hated being called an emo. Haku then started to rotate in a circular motion as he headed over to Sasuke in what seemed like a mini version of a tornado.

_He's fast, but… I can see his movements… how can this be?..._ Sasuke pondered to himself as he was watching the moves of Haku. He then saw him grab for something, so he grabbed a kunai in response, blocking the would-be-attack with it.

"Hn… You're faster then I thought, but not fast enough." Taunted Haku.

"Well we'll just have to see about that, won't we." The two of them then carried on with this series of attacks with their chosen weapon, Sasuke's being a kunai, and Haku's being a senbon needle. Neither of the two were getting any results, that is, until Sasuke managed a kick which hit Haku's hip, sending him flying a couple meters in Zabuza's direction.

_Amazing, he beat Haku in speed…_ Zabuza thought to himself, not showing it on the outside though. _But he has yet to see Haku's true strength… hehehe…_

Just then, Haku started to make numerous hand seals which even Kakashi hadn't seen before. "You know… you're at a disadvantage." He said whilst carrying on with the hand seals.

"And why is that?"

"The air is filled with water particles and there is also water covering the ground." Just as he finished saying this, so did his hand seals. Water started rising from the ground, freezing and making cracking sounds. Flat rectangular plates the size of Kakashi started to form and make a dome around both Haku and Sasuke. But to add to the shock, Haku had stepped into one of the plates, which was only couple millimeters thick. His image then appeared on all of the floating plates, making them all look like mirror images.

"Wha… what is this?" Sasuke managed to get out.

Kakashi was also standing there wide eyed at the sight. "Sakura! Protect Tazuna. Do not leave his side!" She nodded and then he started his way towards the ice dome, but was stopped by Zabuza.

"You'll be fighting me." He said with a would-be evil smirk on his face. But neither of the two did anything except for the tension filled stare between the two of them.

Back inside of the ice dome, Sasuke wasn't faring to well as he had already and a number of senbon needles in him. Haku's speed had now increased due to the ice mirrors and sasuke was finding it hard to keep up, only managing to block or dodge a handful of the high speed needles which were constantly flying towards him.

"Argh!..." Sasuke screamed as more needles were embedding into him. He was now literally a walking pin-cushion.

Suddenly, when another rain of needles came to, Sasuke was able to see them, though their speed was the same. _What… I can see them all clearly… how can this be?..._

He then quickly grabbed a kunai from his pouch and reflected every single one of the needles with it.

_What… how is this possible… he was able to deflect every single needle I threw at him… Impossible, unless… no it's impossible… it can't be… can it…_ Just then, Sasuke's eyes turned red with two tomoes in his left eye and one in his right. _He has the sharingan! So I was right… he is an Uchiha…_

Whilst Haku was pondering this, Sasuke could feel the sudden increase in both his power, speed and reflex actions. He then suddenly realised why _Hn… took it long enough…_

Haku then carried on with throwing senbon needles at Sasuke, but, if lucky, only one would hit him. Haku then realised that this wasn't getting anywhere. _I can't hit him… and if I can't hit him then I can't win and if I can't win then I am useless to Zabuza. I need to get him somehow. _Just then, she spotted something pink in the corner of her eyes._ The girl… _Haku then drew a couple more needles, aimed and threw them, but not at Sasuke, instead they were heading towards the distracted pink haired kunoichi. Sasuke saw this and, without thinking, blocked the needles with his own body, the needles going deeper then the previous ones. _It's… it's too much… I can't… _Sasuke didn't manage to finish his thought as he fainted.

"Sasuke!" Sakura screamed as she saw her fallen comrade on the ground. "Why, Sasuke… you didn't have to do that…" Tears were now flowing down her cheek, but she tried to stop them by rubbing her eyes with her hands. It wasn't working. "A shinobi… isn't supposed to… show their emotions…" She cried to herself.

Tazuna heard this and mumbled to himself. "The life of a ninja is truly terrible."

But just then, a boar came running towards her, stopping only meters away from her as she screamed again. Then, there was a poof followed by smoke. When the smoke had cleared, there stood a boy with blond, spiky hair and deep blue eyes.

"Naruto!" Screamed the Kunoichi, this time out of joy.

Naruto didn't look in her direction, as he saw Sasuke lying on the ground inside of the ice dome. He ran over to him at top speed, managing to get inside of the dome. He stopped by his side and saw that he looked paler then usual and when he felt his forehead, it was cold. Anger was building up inside of him but this time he couldn't keep it in. His eyes turned from blue to blood red, with slits instead of pupils. His blond hair grew longer and stood up more, defying gravity. If he didn't wear a mask, then you could see that his whisker marks were more defined and that he had grown fangs. The fangs were incredibly sharp and had both made two small holes in his mask, poking through them. A massive wave of killer intent was sent directly at Haku, shattering all of the mirrors around him. Deep red chakra was spiraling around Naruto until it suddenly got absorbed by him. What Naruto shouted next was heard by the whole village.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

When he finished this he was out of sight only to reappear right in front of the mirror in which Haku was in. He punched the mirror with his hand, which now had sharp claws, leaking with red chakra. Haku only just managed to get away from it, but didn't escape unharmed as her left arm had been barely scraped, but it was rendered useless.

_**With Kakashi and Zabuza…**_

The two of them had been fighting for a while, both seemingly evenly matched. Kakashi had long since pushed his hitai-ite up to reveal his sharingan eye. The two of them were only a couple of meters away, yet they couldn't see each other since the mist around them had become extremely dense. They were both tiring a bit but neither of them wanted to give up.

Just then, they both felt an enormous wave of killer intent and power, though they sensed that it had not been directed at them. Soon afterwards, there was a slight red glow which quickly faded, followed by the sound of shattering. But the most frightening feeling came to them as they heard the next three words.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

Kakashi knew who it was, and he knew why the voice sounded so rough and violent. _The seal's weakened… this isn't good… I need to stop him before he gets out of control…_

"Zabuza… I know it isn't your style but… why don't we finish this now?"

"Hn… you sure are hasty to reach you death."

"On the contrary, it is your future which holds death." Kakashi then pulled out a scroll and opened, the paper flowing with the wind. He then poked his thumb on a sharp object which was on his vest, releasing blood. Said blood was used to smear a long line from one end of the scroll to the other, He then performed a hand sign and quickly slamming the scroll down into the ground.

Nothing happened so Zabuza laughed as he thought that it had failed, but suddenly, a bunch of dogs of different shapes and sizes came out of the ground. They all grabbed different parts of him with their jaws, their sharp teeth digging into his flesh, making him unable to move.

_**With Naruto…**_

He had managed to grab Haku by the wrist and was now letting out killer waves of chakra, weakening Haku everytime. He then fell down to one knee, exhausted from all of the chakra sent at him. Naruto used this to his advantage and used a chakra enhanced punch to send him flying over in the direction in which Kakashi and Zabuza were.

Haku landed right between the two and not soon later, Naruto was standing a couple of meters behind. He was standing up straight with his head hanging down a bit forward, his arms by his side, his clawed hands strained, like they were both holding onto an invisible ball and trying to crush it. Flares of red chakra were radiating off of him, visible by the three in front of him.

"Wha… what is this boy?..." Zabuza said, fear showing in his deadly eyes. He was shaking but it couldn't be seen as he was being held by the nin-dogs. No answer came as Kakashi was unable to speak… Naruto was about to leap at Haku, but stopped when he heard laughter from behind. He quickly turned around to stare into the eyes of the man who had dared to interrupt him.

"Hahaha… It seems that you've been defeated by a kid… hehe… You're no devil of the mist…" It was Gatou who was talking. Around him stood about one hundred thugs who he had probably paid to be his body guards. "I'm glad to see that I won't have to pay you, not that I was going to anyway… you see, that's what I like about you missing-nins… no-one cares or notices if you're dead, makes my job so much easier." Gatou finished by giving an evil smirk.

"Kakashi… it seems that we have no reason to fight anymore…"

"I agree Zabuza…" With that, the nin-dogs disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto's attention was now also at Gatou, forgetting about Haku, who was lying unconscious on the ground. He sent a wave of killer intent at Gatou and as soon as it had been received, Gatou coward behind one of the thugs, the biggest one to be exact. "Ge-ge-get him." Gatou whimpered. The thugs, however, smirked as they finally got a chance at some bloodshed.

Naruto was about to go on a rampage towards them, but he suddenly fainted, landing on the ground with a large thump. His hair and hands returned to normal, his eyes also did, but that couldn't be seen, the same with his whisker marks. His fangs withdrew, leaving the two holes in his mask and the red chakra disappeared. Steam was rising from the boy as he lay there, a quiet hissing sound coming along with the steam.

Sakura had watched it all, from Haku on the ground to what just happened. She was too much in shock to react to any of it. The same went for Tazuna, who was being protected by Sakura, respectively.

Zabuza was the one who broke the silence. "Kakashi… you want to have some fun?" He suggested whilst looking over at Gatou's men. Kakashi threw a kunai over to Zabuza, who grabbed it with his mouth, as his arms had been rendered useless from the nin-dogs.

Kakashi then put his hands together, forming a cross whilst muttering, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." With that, there was a poof and ten Kakashis' appeared. "You can have Gatou, whilst I take the rest." Zabuza only smirked at the proposal, meaning that he liked it.

The Kakashi, along with the real one, all ran at the thugs in unison, knocking most of them down unconscious, some of them jumping down into the river. Zabuza saw the opening and took it. He ran at full speed towards the short man, oh how he was going to enjoy this. He counted the seconds before he stood right in front of him, only a mere few centimeters between him and the whimpering Gatou.

"Please, don't hurt me… I'll pay you double…"

"As I recall… you weren't going to pay me…" With that, he slashed the short man's throat with the kunai, blood spewing out until Gatou released his final breath and fell backwards, falling and landing in the water with a loud splash. The water around him started turning dark, with a hint of red.

Zabuza smirked at his victory but soon feinted.

Once Kakashi had finished with the thugs, he ran over and picked up Zabuza, carried him over to where the others were and laid him down. It was just then that he remembered Sasuke. He ran over to the place where there once stood an ice dome and found the shinobi lying on the ground. He picked him up gently and carried him over to the group, placing him next to Naruto.

He placed a hand on Sasuke's forehead, finding it cold, he then tried to feel for a pulse by his neck, but he had no luck. His arms slunk back down to his sides and his head lowered at an awkward angle. He gently whispered to himself, "I'm so sorry… I really am…"

"… Sor…sorry… about what?" Came a feeble attempt at humour. Kakashi immediately looked forward to see his student, his comrade, alive. Exhausted and badly wounded, but alive nonetheless.

"Sasuke!" Came a high pitched scream. It came from the pink haired kunoichi who was now embracing him in a hug which was too much for his liking.

"Please… let… go… you're… hurting me." Sakura quickly released him and started to check his wounds obsessively. She then turned to Naruto, steam still rising from his body.

"Kakashi-sensei… wha-what's happening t-to Na-Naruto?"

He sighed, "He's healing…" Sakura looked shocked, her eyes staring at Naruto in disbelief.

"H-ho-how?"

Kakashi sighed again, "It's not my place to say."

Sakura made an 'O' shape with her lips before turning her attention back to Sasuke, who had now fallen asleep. She smiled, thinking _He looks so cute when he's sleeping… _She then glanced over at Naruto _So does he… ooh… I'll be able to take care of them, spending extra time with them… hehehe…_ She then started to giggle mentally at the thought of her taking care of the two boys, ruffling their hair and them not being able to do anything about it. She had a smile on which would freak anybody out.

Kakashi saw this and he, was indeed, freaked out. "Um, Sakura… are you alright?"

She quickly realised that she was daydreaming and returned to the real world. Her smile instantly disappearing and her eyes becoming wide as she turned to look at her sensei, before muttering, "I'm-ok!"

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**Ok... I hope everyone liked this. It was the longest chapter yet...**

**Again, I'm open to any suggestions and the sort... though I have some plans for the future... hehehe... I have one that might shock you guys... hehehe... Might come next chapter, and if not, the chapter afterwards... hehehe... I'm not gonna tell you what it is though, you'll just have to wait... hehehe...**


	6. A New Friend

**Yes! My exams are over, now on with the show, well... actually it's a story, but you get the idea.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto, though I wish I did...**

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A couple of days had passed since the fight and everyone had recovered from the events, apart from both Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke's wounds were healing nicely and he had just been made to rest a lot, however, Naruto hadn't woken up since he fell unconscious during the fight. Sakura had taken the liberty to taking care of the two (she had volunteered and explained that it was her duty as a teammate, though she had other thoughts in her head at the time). Meanwhile, the two boys were resting in their beds, on either side of each other, whilst Sakura was kneeling on the floor between them, stealing many precious glances of the two.

Just then a thought popped into the pink-haired kunoichi's mind. _Oooo… Look at Sasuke's hair, it's so perfect… If only I could touch it, wait… I can, he won't even know… hehe…_ An evil smile appeared on her face as she reached for Sasuke's hair, but before she touched it, another thought popped into her mind. _Or even better, I can take a peak under Naruto's mask to see what he really looks like…_ The smile which she had on her face grew even more, reaching both sides of her face.

Her hand was slowly approaching the mask of Naruto, savoring the moment, remembering the mystery of it. When her hand was only a mere few inches away,

_SNAP!_

Sakura screamed at the top of her lungs as Naruto's right eyes had just opened as wide as could be. The scary thing was, though, that it wasn't an azure eye which could be seen, but a blood red one with a thin black slit in, the look of it just screamed evil.

Not seconds later, Kakashi came running through the door, huffing slightly.

"What… what is it Sakura, what's happened." But before he got an answer, he looked to where she was staring and also saw the red eye. His eye widened and he slowly walked over to Naruto and sat by his side. He then heard something stir from behind Sakura, she had also heard it and turned around to find that Sasuke had woken from the noise of the high pitched scream.

"… Wha… what's all of the commotion about?" Sasuke said sleepily as he began to raise himself up, leaning on his arms which were behind him. He then rubbed his eye to try and get rid of some of his sleepiness. When done, he turned to take a look at Naruto, and when he saw him, he was no longer sleepy, as he was now wide awake and shocked.

"Wha…" Sasuke didn't manage to finish as Naruto began to stir lazily. His left eye opened slowly before shutting abruptly due to the bright light in the room. After a minute or two, he finally sits up before noticing everyone staring at him with a shocked face. He leans his head to the side, in a questioning manner.

Kakashi then gave him a mirror, which Naruto took and held it up to his face, seeing his right eye completely different from his normal one.

_Flashback…_

Naruto is in his mindscape after fainting from exhaustion during his would-be attack on Gatou. He had just reached the giant cage which was the home of Kyuubi.

'Oi, Kyuubi-sama...'

Kyuubi turns to the boy before replying, **'ah, kit… just the person I wanted to see, though I don't really have a choice…'**

'Why is it that I always seem to get tired or blackout or something after nearly everytime I use a demonic jutsu or something?'

'**Well kit, that's why I need to talk to you. You see, though your chakra control is pretty good, as well as your chakra supply being abnormally large, and the fact that your mind is fully concentrated… the thing is, that your body's strength level isn't quite high enough, so although you may not feel mentally exhausted, your body reacts otherwise…'**

'Is there anything I can do to change this, any training of any sort?'

'**Well, yes… you need to excel in both strength and speed, and an advancement in taijutsu would help as well, so I suggest finding someone to help you with that.'**

'… so… does that mean that I won't be able to use any of the demonic jutsus before I reach the targeted level?'

'**Not quite, as I can transfer some of my strength into you, also my senses, which will disperse as soon as you reach the level required. But in doing this, I will be unable to communicate with you…'**

'Oh, I see… That makes the decision quite difficult…'

'**I would advise you to take my offer… If you do, I'll send a friend of mine who will be able to substitute for me whilst I'm gone… He should be waiting outside for you after you wake up. He'll be blue, he'll have sharp teeth and that's all I'm going to say about him as you'll know him when you see him. He'll probably stick around once I'm back… '**

'It does sound very tempting… hmmm… Are there any side effects?'

'**Only that you'll feel stronger and there will be a slight change in your appearance, though I'm not sure how, or how much…'**

'I see… You know what Kyuubi-sama, I'll take you up on that offer, though I'll miss our conversations and such.'

'**I'll miss them too, but don't forget, I'm always with you, literally.'** The two of them chuckled quietly before Kyuubi raised his paw, bringing it out of the cage and placing it on Naruto's head, only to end in a flash.

_End Flashback…_

"So, Naruto. Do you have anyway of explaining this?" Kakashi asks suspiciously.

"Umm… Why don't I come outside and I can tell you…" As Naruto stands up, his teammates were also about to before Naruto said, "Just me and Kakashi-sensei, alone!" The two other genins then gave him a weird look before the other two walked outside, far enough away to be out of earshot.

"So?..." Kakashi starts off.

"Well… You know how I've always seemed extra tired and exhausted after I use my demonic jutsus?" Kakashi nods. "Well, Kyuubi-sama said that was because my body's strength level wasn't quite high enough, though everything else was. So, whilst I train to improve on what I need to, he's given me a small part of him, I'm guessing the eye, but during this time, I won't be able to communicate with him. Which reminds me of two things; One; you wouldn't happen to know anyone who is a master of taijutsu and would be able to up both my strength and speed, would you?"

"Well, actually, I do. Though I must warn you, he can be a bit… obsessive… about youth and the sort, and his wardrobe is a bit… strange."

"I see… well, I'm sure he'll be fine, which brings me to my next point, I must go and meet someone…" Naruto then started heading off in a direction with Kakashi calling from behind.

"And who would that be?"

"Kyuubi's substitute for the time being…" Kakashi shrugs as he heads back to the Tazuna's house, his book in his hand, his eyes now glued to it.

_**About half an hour later…**_

Naruto had been walking around for a while, but still, he hadn't come across anyone blue with sharp teeth. Naruto had been thinking about who, or even what it could be, but had gotten nowhere, so he carried on walking silently through the green forest. He could see a number of birds, bugs and other animals, even some passers-by, but none of them fitted the description which he had been given.

An hour later, he was bored to death and he had reached his limits in patience, so he decided to start making his way back.

As he was nearing the house, only about a hundred meters away, he heard some snoring coming from one of the bushes to his right, so he decided to go see what it was. When he had allocated the right bush, he waited a moment before drawing the branches to the side quietly, as to not wake the sleeper. But what he saw sleeping behind the bush left him speechless.

Not soon after Naruto seeing it, it began to stir and eventually woke up, smacking it's scaly lips together whilst it's eyes got use to the bright light of the day. It was then that it saw Naruto and smiled at him.

"Y-y-you're a-a-a dr-dragon.!" He finally managed to say whilst pointing an accusing finger at it. The dragon seemed to smirk at the remark. The dragon was, in fact, blue, dark blue to be exact and it had sharp teeth, very sharp teeth indeed. (The dragon is identical to the new born dragon seen in Eragon, except that it has two silver whisker, like a Chinese dragon, coming from its snout, which seemed to be alive)

"I am indeed." The dragon retorted, with Naruto falling back hard onto his butt, his eyes now wide. The dragon laughed silently to himself before carrying on. "You must be Naruto, am I not correct?" Naruto just nodded, still not quite able to speak due to the fact that it could speak, let alone it being a dragon.

"Good, good. How's Kyuubi by the way, though I know you can't talk to him at the moment."

"He-he's good. He's doing fine." Naruto stammered, finally getting back to sense.

"Nice to know, as I haven't seen him for a long time. Don't quite remember how long though." The dragon then paused to ponder before remembering that he had company. "Oh yes, I almost forgot to introduce myself, my name is Chie."

"Nice to meet you, urr… Chie-sama." Chie smiled at the name, he liked the respect shown in the voice, indeed, he liked the boy. The dragon then started to move it wings up and down as it began to hover in the air, flying over to Naruto and landing on his shoulder, its hind legs on his left shoulder and it's forelegs on is right shoulder, rapping it's tail around his neck in a friendly manner, like he was trying to comfort Naruto in some way. "I suggest that you get some protection for your shoulders, as I will be constantly sitting in this position."

"Sure thing." Naruto then started his way back to the house but before he got to the door, he was stopped by Chie.

"Just so you know, I'll be able to talk to you much like Kyuubi, but only when my telepathic antennas are in contact with you." Chie then began waving his silver whiskers, showing him what he meant. Naruto just shrugged before entering the house to find that there was lunch on the table, reminding him that he was hungry, due to him not having anything to eat for breakfast. So he sat down and began to pile food onto his plate. When he was done with filling his plate he looked up at his teammates, only to find them staring at him with there jaws as far down as humanly possible.

"What?"

No answer.

"What?!"

Sakura then lifted her finger slowly, eventually making it point at Chie. Naruto followed the finger before smiling. "Oh right, everyone, this is Chie-sama." Naruto then lifted his fork which had a sausage on the end and gave it to Chie, who swallowed it in one bite. The others were still staring, but abruptly turned back to their lunch, not making a single sound apart from the sound of knife and fork going against each other.

Later that day, Naruto went out into the town, in search of something to use for his shoulders. He had gone round a couple of shops until he stopped outside a leather and shoe retailer, he then went in, with Chie on his shoulders. Once inside, he quickly caught the strong scent leather, nearly making his nose go numb, as his sense of smell was more powerful then before. The owner quickly came out from the back door whilst wiping his hands on a cloth. He was probably in his early fifties, he had brown hair with a bold patch on top of his tanned head. He was wearing a slightly dirty white shirt, along with a brown pair of loose-fit trousers and on top of that he had a black apron which had a large pocket on the front.

"Hello, what can I do…" He paused once he saw the dragon, but carried on. "Sorry, what can I do for you?"

"What types of leather do you have. I need something that is flexible, wearable, yet very strong, as it will have to be able to stand Chie-sama here." Naruto said as he scratched Chie under his chin. The man stared for a while before turning towards the door in which he came from, muttering, "Yes, yes, of course."

Moments later, he reappeared from the door, holding a large sheet of leather, which was a dark grey, almost black colour and it seemed very stiff when looking at it. "Is this what you had in mind?" He asked whilst holding out the leather.

Naruto walked over to him and began feeling the leather, bending it, testing its strength and so on. The man stood their waiting like Naruto had come to make the final judgment. But soon, a smile appeared on Naruto's face as he said, "It's perfect. It's exactly what I've been looking for… Do you know where I would be able to get this made into a pair of shoulder protectors and a sheath for my right arm?"

"If you want, I could do, but you would have to come back in about two hours as this leather is hard to work with, but I'll be able to do it."

"Ok then, now that that's settled, I'll be back in two hours then." Naruto then turned around and left through the door.

"So Chie-sama, do you think that I should change my attire?"

"I don't think that what you're wearing at the moment will look very good when you get the shoulder protectors, though it does look good as it is now. So, yes, I think a change in wardrobe would be appropriate."

"You know, your manner of speech is very good, it makes you sound very intelligent, though I have no doubt that you are very wise."

"I should hope so, with all of the years which I have under my belt."

"Not trying to sound rude or anything, but… how old are you?"

"I'm nine hundred and forty seven years old, though I don't look it, as this isn't my usual size."

"Your usual size? How big are you really then?"

"I can be as big as Kyuubi was when he was free. You see, I can change my size whenever I wish, but I do prefer the size I am at the moment as it is so much easier to handle and control."

"I see." The two then went in search of shops which sold shinobi gear.

An hour later, Naruto had finally found the outfit which he thought was most suitable, consisting of; a black sleeve-less shirt, a long-sleeved fishnet shirt to go underneath, a pair of baggy cargo trousers where the colour was identical to that of Chie, a black pair of shinobi sandals and finally a black pair of fingerless gloves which had small silver plates, covering the knuckles. He had also bought a very elegant, black collar which had a tear-shaped droplet made out of silver hanging on the front, for Chie, which he was now wearing proudly around his long neck. The two of them still had an hour to go so they decided to just walk around the town so that they could explore it.

The hour passed quickly and the two of them then entered through the door which lead to the leather workman's shop. Once inside, they decided to look around as the man wasn't present at the moment, though he soon came out from the backroom. When the man saw who was standing in his shop he put up his index finger, asking for a minute to go out back to retrieve the ordered items.

Returning with them he had a smile on his face as he handed them over to Naruto and received the money owed. But before Naruto left, he asked, "If you don't mind me asking, where did you get a dragon? Last I heard, they were all extinct, except for a handful of demons."

"I got him from an inside source." Naruto said as he left the shop, carrying a bag in each hand, one containing the clothing and the other, the leather items.

"That was a very clever reply you gave the man; you didn't lie, yet you didn't give it away. Bravo." Naruto smirked at the compliment. The two of them then headed back home to Tazuna's house.

Once there, they headed upstairs to Naruto's room so that he could put his new gear on. Once done, he walked down to the kitchen to find Tsunami there, cleaning some dishes.

"Hey Tsunami, do you know where the rest of my team is?"

"Oh yes, they went to the bridge to help finish. Tazuna said that it would probably be finished by the end of today. By the way, when are you guys leaving, not that I want you too."

"I believe that we'll be leaving tomorrow. Anyway, thanks." Naruto waved to her, even though her back was to him. He then left and headed to the bridge.

_**At the bridge…**_

Sasuke and sakura had both been working hard on completing the bridge whilst Kakashi had simply been reading his beloved book. Tazuna was on the other side of the bridge, giving out order and instructions and the sort. That was when Naruto finally appeared. Sakura looked up before shouting,

"Naruto, what have you been up to? We could use your help."

"I'm sorry, I had some stuff I had to take care of, but I'm here now so it's alright." This was a good enough excuse for sakura who began working again.

After about half an hour, a thought came across Naruto's mind so he decided to go and ask Kakashi about it,

"Kakashi-sensei, whatever happened to Zabuza and Haku?"

"Huh?... Oh, right… An ANBU team came here not long ago and picked them up and took them back to Konoha." Kakashi then looked up from his book and noticed something about Naruto. "I like the new wardrobe you're sporting. Very nice." He then looked down again so as to continue reading his book. Naruto shrugged and went back to work.

* * *

**Okay... Sorry if nothing major happened in this chapter, but I needed this out, so here it is...**

**I have a poll, you probably don't know what I'm about to say means, but rest assure I do, I just need you guys to say which one you think. Here's a clue; it will have something to do with the second part of the chuunin exams:**

**Vote for (as many as you want):**

**1-_poof_ and from behind.**

**2-stab through**

**3-crunch in jaws**

**4-block with wings and smash**

**5-melt it**

**6-smog disappearance**

**Also, I have another one which is for the first part of the chuunin exams:**

**1-Chie**

**2-Kyuubi's eye**

**3-nothing (leave blank)**


	7. Back And At It

**Ok, I struggeld with writing this chapter, so I hope it is good enough. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, no matter how much I want to.**

* * *

The next day, team seven and their sensei were standing near the beginning of the grand bridge which had been completed the previous day. Today was the day that they would be heading back to Konoha, after having successfully completing their mission turned from C to A rank.

Tazuna, Tsunami, Inari and most of the other villagers were there to give their thanks and wave them good bye. Prosperity had finally appeared in the village and so had happiness and joy. The village had changed enormously ever since team seven first came. It was just like any other village now.

"Naruto… Promise you won't forget me…" Inari muttered as he was embracing him in a tight hug, trying to suppress his own tears.

"I won't forget you… I'll even come and visit sometime… but remember, it's ok to cry when you're happy."

"I know, but I promised that I wouldn't cry." You could easily see the strain on his face as his eyes were going slightly red and watery, but still, no tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Hn. Well… see ya…" Naruto finished as he started his way across the bridge with the rest of his team next to him, all of them waving and shouting back 'good-byes' and the sort.

When the team were out of sight, a thought popped into Tsunami's head, "Did you ever choose a name for the bridge?"

Tazuna stood there whilst looking at the ground for a while before answering, "No, I guess I didn't. Any suggestions?"

"How about 'The Great Naruto Bridge'?" Inari shouted out with a rather large smile present on his face. Tazuna smiled whilst repeating it over and over again in his head to see if it sounded good or not. After a couple of seconds, Tazuna finally nodded and said, "I think that's a great name. That kid did a lot for us…" The last part of what he said was just him talking out loud, but both Tsunami and Inari heard it and nodded in agreement.

_**Three days later…**_

Team seven were now nearing the great wall which encircled Konoha. They had been walking at a steady pace on their journey as they did not feel the need to hurry.

"Naruto, I think it would be wise to hide that eye of yours. The villagers might act differently from the ones in the wave country." Kakashi said.

Naruto nodded before putting his hand up to his chin in a thinking position until an idea came into mind. He took off his hitai-ite from his neck and placed in on his forehead, slanting it down over his right eye. He then looked up at Kakashi, said person then smirked at the kid, as he was now a younger mirror image of Kakashi, except for the colour of both their hair and eyes. They both had their masks, slanting hitai-ites and gravity defying hair, although Naruto's wasn't quite as wild as Kakashi's.

When Sakura saw Naruto, her heart just melted as she thought he looked even more powerful now. She was very much enjoying being on team seven. Sasuke gave a small smile, meaning that he liked it.

Both Naruto and Sasuke had been friends for a very long time, four years to be exact. It was a couple of weeks after the Uchiha massacre when Naruto found Sasuke sitting alone on a bench with no-one around, looking sad and lonely. As Naruto knew both what had happened and how it felt to be alone, he knew that when you're sad, the last thing you want is to be left all alone, though no-one else did. So Naruto had decided to go up to the kid, and ever since then, they had been like brothers, in both friendship and sometimes rivalry.

The team were now at the gates and entered through them as soon as they had been opened. They then had to go to the Hokage tower to deliver the report on their mission. They also had some explaining to do as to why the mission was an A-rank. When done with that, Kakashi disappeared in a poof and left the three genins, who then decided to walk back together. However, as soon as they were out of the building, a girl with platinum blond hair jumped out and said,

"Sakura, come over to my house tonight, all of the girls who were in our class will be there."

"Ok Ino." Sakura said mildly, as she wasn't really paying attention due to her sneaking glances at her two teammates. Ino noticed, and decided to do the same, but when she looked at Naruto, she screamed,

"Naruto! What is that on your shoulder?!"

"Huh?... Oh, right… Ino, this is Chie-sama. He's a dragon if you're wandering."

Ino stood there for a second, staring at Chie with her mouth slightly opened, she then screamed again,

"You've got new clothes!" She then leapt in to try and grab his arm, but was stopped when Chie bared his teeth to her. Ino pulled away cautiously. She then tried to grab Sasuke's arm, but Chie bared it's teeth to Ino again, resulting with Ino pulling back slowly again, with a weary expression on her face.

"Um… I'll see you tonight Sakura…" With that, Ino ran away back to her parents' house.

Meanwhile in Sakura's mind, _Ha! Take that Ino-pig… _(With the image of Inner Sakura punching her hand high up in the air)

Both Sasuke and Naruto sweatdropped as they saw a slightly freaky smile appear their teammates face, who had her eyes closed, so she couldn't see their confused expressions. Sasuke and Naruto then decided to sneak away from her whilst they still could. They jumped silently onto the rooftops and jumped between them until they were far away from her. The two then sat down on the rooftop which they were on and looked out over all of the surrounding buildings. Chie was still present on Naruto's shoulder, though he was asleep.

_**That evening…**_

Everyone was at Ino's house; Sakura, Hinata, Sora (temporary character) and Akaai (another temporary character). They were all in their pajamas and huddled together in their sleeping bags. Currently, they were playing 'Truth or Dare'.

"Sora, it's your turn." Ino said. Sora, who had long brown hair and beautiful golden eyes, straightened up and said,

"Um… I choose… dare"

Ino gave a small evil grin, "Ok, I dare you to stick your head out of my window and shout as loud as you can, 'I have fungus all over my feet'."

Sora's eye twitched for a second before realizing that since she was dared she had to do it. She slowly walked over to the window, opened it, stuck her head out and withdrew a larger breath. She then shouted, "I HAVE FUNGUS ALL OVER MY FEET!" She then quickly withdrew her head, slammed the window shut and jumped back into her sleeping-bag with a bright red blush present on her face.

"Hehe… That was funny… hehe… Anyway, it's now Hinata's turn." Everyone turned to the Hyuuga.

"Um… well… um… I ch-choose truth."

"Excellent, now let's see… What should I ask?... hm…" Ino pondered out loud.

"Oh, I know." Sakura said glowingly. "Have you ever kissed a boy?" Ino beamed at the idea before rapidly turning her head towards Hinata so fast that you would have thought that her head would have fallen off due to the speed.

Hinata's face became slightly red, but even more so when she answered. "Y-yes… It was on m-my tenth b-birthday." Everyone's jaws dropped, neither Sakura nor Ino had kissed a boy yet as they were waiting for either Sasuke or Naruto to do so, Sora had only had her first kiss a couple of weeks ago and that was by accident, whilst Akaai had hers last year when she was on holiday. All four of them shouted exactly the same thing, "WHEN YOU WERE TEN?" Hinata just nodded before she began to twiddle her index fingers whilst her eyes seemed to have found something interesting on the floor.

"Who was it?" They all said in unison, but more calmly this time.

"Y-you wouldn't b-believe me if I t-told you."

"We promise we'll believe you, now would you just tell us, we're dying to know!" Akaai stated.

Hinata thought for a while if she should answer ir not. Finally deciding that she wouldn't be able to get out of it no matter what, she whispered the boy's name quietly, but loud enough for everyone to hear. As soon as they had heard it, they all screamed as high a pitch as humanly possible, nearly making the other occupants of the house along with Hinata go deaf.

"YOU'RE KIDDING?!"

"See, I told you that you wouldn't believe me…"Hinata said miserably. The other four girls knew that they had just made their friend upset so they all gave her a massive bear hug, muttering their apologies whilst suffocating Hinata until they finally let go after realizing that she needed to breath air in order to live. After that, they all decided it was time to go to sleep, as it was also getting late.

_**A couple days later…**_

Team seven had now completed countless D-ranked missions, which mainly consisted of; gardening, litter-picking, fishing and, the ever so popular, cat chase, which consisted of catching the Daimyo's wife's cat which always ran away, but once you saw how the cat was treated, you would know why.

They had now just been assigned another mission; to catch the DAMN cat AGAIN! The third chuckled at the reactions he got from the team, they would always brighten up his day somehow.

"But why is it that it is always us who has to catch that cat? I mean it is so not fair!" Sakura asked irritatingly.

"That's because the Daimyo's wife is very fond of you three, she always specifically requests that it is you who are to catch and return her beloved cat, though I do feel pity it."

"Yeah…" Naruto agreed.

"I wish the cat would just die or something, then we wouldn't have to waste our time, always having to chase it down and catch it. I think that even the cat wants to die if it so obsessed with running away all the time." Sasuke added.

"Why can't we let Chie-sama eat it I'm sure it would be an honour for it to be eaten by a dragon." Naruto supported.

"Now, now… let's not get carried away… now off with you, go and catch that cat so that it can return home to its owner." The third shuddered a bit, barely noticeable, nevertheless, the team noticed.

_**Meanwhile…**_

Team eight, consisting of; Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino and their jounin sensei, Kurenai, were out on a mission in the far eastern end of the fire country. They had been sent to retrieve a scroll containing some documents that the Hokage had wanted.

They had successfully reached the town after a four day long journey and had been greeted warmly by the man who looked over it. They had stayed there the night there and left the next morning, with the scroll in hand.

The five of them (including Akamaru) had been traveling for a couple of hours when Akamaru gave a warning bark, meaning that he could sense danger near. Hinata then activated her Byakugan and looked around to reveal that there were three foreign nin hiding in a nearby tree. The team then stopped on top of a strong branch and waited for the hidden shinobi to come out. When they didn't, Shino sent out some of his bugs in the direction that they were in, thereby, making them come out, whether they wanted to or not.

Within seconds, the three shinobi had come out of their hiding places. All three of them were men and were clad in identical clothing, consisting of; a pair of extremely baggy khaki trouser, black trench coat which had hoods, covering the men's hair and completely zipped up, they had black combat boots and their faces all had some sort of mask, which looked like a piece of cloth which had wiring and tubing all over it and they also had a black pair of goggles on. However, the strange thing was that none of them seemed to be wearing their Hitai-ite.

"Who are you, and what is it that you want with us?!" Kurenai demanded, using her serious voice.

"Hehe… we're here to… how should I say, take care of you… once and for all… also, we would very much like that scroll which you have in your possession." The taller of the three said in a very playful yet deadly voice, only just loud enough for everyone to hear.

_**Back in Konoha…**_

_Knock, knock…_

Sakura opened her door, only to find her teammate, Naruto standing there. She smiled sweetly before saying, "Naruto… what are you doing here… at my house?" But she secretly thought to herself _Yes, he has finally come to ask me out on a date after not being able to say no to me anymore… He has finally realised that he has feelings for me…_ But her hopes were quickly lost when Naruto spoke up.

"Kakashi-sensei told me to go and get you and Sasuke to come and meet him at our usual meeting place."

"Oh… ok." She then walked outside to follow Naruto, but not before locking the door.

Sasuke was already at the bridge where they were to meet their sensei. He was leaning on the rail, staring out into the distance, with a focused look on his face, but it quickly broke when Naruto greeted him,

"Hey Sasuke… what you looking at?"

"Wha… oh, nothing…"

"You sure? You look like something is bugging you."

"I just have this bad feeling…"

"What kind of 'bad feeling'?"

"The one that tells me that something is about to happen."

"Any ideas?"

"No… but I'm sure it's nothing… probably just my imagination or something."

Just then, there was a puff of smoke, and there, standing where the smoke was, was their sensei.

"Kakashi-sensei, you're on time!" Sakura said in a voice indicating that she was amazed. She then squinted her eyes before saying, "Who are you and what have you done with our sensei?!"

"Sakura, it's me… No need to get all suspicious… Aren't I allowed to be on time if I want to? Besides I have some great news concerning you guys. I know that you'll like it…" But Kakashi was interrupted by an ANBU suddenly appearing and looking slightly out of breath.

"Team eight… is in… danger… they have been… attacked by… some foreign nin…" The ANBU said in between breaths.

"Oh SHIT!" Was all that Naruto said as he ran in the direction of the Hokage's tower.

Minutes later, he burst through the doors to find the Hokage sitting behind his desk, with a rather large pile of paperwork stacked carelessly on it.

"Naruto, what brings you…" He didn't manage to finish as he was cut by Naruto.

"What is the location of team eight?! Tell me now!"

The third threw a questioning glance had him before realizing something and picked up a sheet of paper, which contained everything about the mission that team eight were on. He gave said paper to Naruto who stole a quick glance at it and was gone in a flash, heading for the eastern gates.

Sarutobi sat back in his chair and looked out of the window, thinking to himself, _Good luck Naruto… I hope that you get there in time, for both their sake and your's…_

_**Back on the bridge…**_

It had taken the rest of the team a while to realise what had just happened. They had all been staring in the direction in which their teammate had run to, and couldn't help but wonder why Naruto was taking the news so badly, sure their friends were on that team, but still, they couldn't help but wonder.

Sakura finally managed to ask what was on her mind. "Kakashi-sensei, how some Naruto ran off like that?"

"Because there is a certain person on that team."

"What do you mean by 'a certain person' on that team?"

"Hyuuga Hinata is on that team."

Sakura looked suspiciously at her sensei before carrying on with her questions. "Is she his girlfriend or something?"

Kakashi slapped himself in his face with his whole hand, letting it slowly slip down but stopping it at his chin. _Why is it that they always have to ask ME?... I mean, it would make much more sense for them to ask Naruto about himself, rather then me…_ Kakashi then took in a long deep sigh before saying three unforgettable words, "She's his fiancée."

* * *

Hope it wasn't too horrible, but I was sorta stuck at this point as I didn't quite know how I was going to write it, though I knew that I needed to get to a certain point.

The polls continue;

**Vote for (as many as you want):**

**Chuunin test 2:**

**1-_poof_ and from behind.**

**2-stab through**

**3-crunch in jaws**

**4-block with wings and smash**

**5-melt it**

**6-smog disappearance**

**Also, I have another one which is for the first part of the chuunin exams:**

**1-Chie**

**2-Kyuubi's eye**

**3-nothing (leave blank)**


	8. Now It's Out

**Okay, I have been having some cases of writers block so this took a while to write. Sorry if it's shorter then the previous chapters, but it'll have to make do for now. Enjoy...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto... blah blah blah...**

* * *

"HIS FIANCE?! WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?!" Came the shout from the very shocked, yet, furious pink-haired kunoichi. Sasuke just fell back on his behind, completely speechless.

_FLASHBACK_

Kakashi, followed by a nine year old Naruto had just passed through the gates which were the entrance to the Hyuuga compound. Today, the two were going to meet the clan's head, Hyuuga Hiashi, and his oldest daughter, Hyuuga Hinata. This would be the first time that the two nine year olds were to meet, whilst both Kakashi and Hiashi had been friends for a very long time.

One of the members of the branch family had lead the two to the courtyard where the two Hyuugas were, who were both sitting on an elegantly carved wooden bench. As soon as the two noticed their guests arriving, they stood up and bowed to them, with Kakashi and Naruto bowing to them swiftly afterwards. (Naruto had been informed earlier about how the Hyuugas lived and the way they did things)

"Kakashi, glad you could make it." Hiashi said pleasantly. Kakashi smiled at his friend before placing a hand on Naruto's back, saying,

"This is Naruto." Naruto was nervous with the attention he had juts received. He was still slightly weary around people, not including Kakashi. Naruto had his hands behind his back, squeezing one hand tight with the other and his shoulders hunched up, trying to hide himself slightly.

Hiashi gave Naruto a slight curve of the lip, which was known to be a friendly smile, however small it was. "It's nice to meet you Naruto. This is my daughter, Hinata." He then pulled a girl, who was hiding behind her him, in front of him. She was shy and twiddling her index fingers awkwardly together, her eyes looking at a patch of grass in front of her. Hiashi then looked up again at Kakashi and leaned his head to the side, suggesting for the two younger ones to be left alone to get to know each other. Kakashi gave a slight nod before the two quickly but quietly left them.

Both Hinata and Naruto stood there awkwardly for a couple minutes, with their fathers/guardians watching from a hidden location, they were very interested to see if they would get along or not. Minutes passed, and still, there was no interaction. It was so quiet that you could hear the blossom petals falling down from the tree and landing in the water of the small pond which was situated the blossom tree. There was a slight breeze, and some of the petals began floating over to the pair. Naruto looked up at Hinata, but almost immediately looked down again. Hinata did the same thing a few seconds later. This carried on for a while, until they both figured out that the other was just as terrified as them self. Eventually, Naruto broke the silence, but did not look up when he spoke.

"Um… Your hair… l-looks pretty…"

At this, the young Hyuuga looked up with a small blush forming on her beautifully pale cheeks. "Th-thank you…" The two then looked up at the other in unison, but this time, they didn't break their gaze, they held it for a while, before Naruto's fox-like grin appeared on his face as he placed a hand behind his head to scratch, closing his eyes in the meantime. Hinata let out a small chuckle to herself at the boy's antics. To her, he looked a little like a cheeky little fox, which, in some ways, would be true.

A smile had appeared on the face of the Hyuuga clan's head as he was watching the two from his hiding spot. Though his daughter was extremely shy, to say the least, she had seemed to gain some confidence with her new friend. Yes, they would become good friends. A similar thought was passing through Kakashi's mind, as Naruto had already become a bit accustomed to the girl.

Now, the two pre-genins were sitting down on the bench which the two Hyuugas had previously been sitting on. There was about a foot in between the two, but they seemed comfortable, as they were talking to each other, small talk and the odd giggle could be heard coming from the two. Both of them were now free from stuttering and were able to complete whole sentences with whole breaths when talking to each other, though their voices were still quiet, but nevertheless, their confidence had improved.

Neither Naruto nor Hinata noticed Hiashi and Kakashi come up to them. It was only when they heard a fake cough that they looked up and saw them, with a slightly confused look on their faces, wondering how and when the two had appeared.

"Naruto, I'm afraid that we have to leave now, but, don't worry, we'll visit soon again. You'll get to see Hinata soon enough." As the two began to walk towards the gate, they heard a small shout from behind them, "See you soon, Naruto…" They looked back to see that it was Hinata who had bade them farewell. Naruto waved back at her and turned back as they left through the gate.

_2__ND__ FLASHBACK_

The two Hatakes had been visiting the Hyuuga at least twice a week for the next six months, and when Kakashi was away on missions, Naruto would often stay with them, in the main household. Hinata's confidence had sky-rocketed, but that would only be when she was around the main household, Naruto or Kakashi, otherwise, she would be stuttering and twiddling her fingers in her usual manner. Naruto had also enrolled at the academy again, as he had left when he was taken in by Kakashi. He had been placed in the same class as Hinata, which they were both happy about. Naruto and Hinata would come over to the others house and they would do homework or training together. They would also sometimes have friendly sparring matches, the outcome varying. Hinata had become strong, not as strong as some of the others in her class, but strong nevertheless. Naruto's popularity had increased tenfold as he hit puberty quite early and soon had all the girls after him, and the Uchiha. But Hinata wasn't worried about Naruto, she knew that he wouldn't go out with a fan girl, and she hoped that he wouldn't even more, as she had secretly developed a crush on Naruto. As if Hinata's prayers had been answered, Naruto didn't go out with any of the fan girls and he himself had also developed his own crush on Hinata, but again, he didn't tell her. But these crushes had gone unnoticed by Hiashi, nor Kakashi, so the two of them had decided to meet up and discuss.

"I take it that you have also noticed the… bonding of a certain two people." Hiashi began as he sat back in his large chair in his office, whilst Kakashi was sitting on another chair which was on the other side of Hiashi's desk.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Kakashi stated, but made it obvious that it was a joke.

Hiashi grinned before continuing, "Anyway, I have noticed that ever since those two have met, Hinata's confidence had been rising, and she also seems more cheery and happy, not always being down on herself. Naruto, I believe, has brought this out." Hiashi paused before continuing, "Also, with Naruto, although I haven't known him for that long, I believe that he has also changed, he seems to be less shy around new people, like he was when we met for the first time." Kakashi's smile had been ever so slowly spreading across his face, but it could not be seen due to the mask, all you could see was that his eye was slowly closing and eventually forming an upside down 'U' shape.

"Now, as to why I wanted to see you, I have a proposal for you." At this, Kakashi leaned forward, giving the impression that he would be listening without any distractions, not even his book.

"Oh yes? Now what would that be?"

"A betrothal." Hiashi paused as Kakashi leaned his head to the side slightly. Hiashi then carried on, "between Hinata and Naruto. However, it will be more lenient as, if one of them were to fall in love with another, then it would be called off." There was complete silence after this was said. Nothing could be heard apart from the birds, singing in the trees. Kakashi was thinking about the proposal. To him, it did seem rather appealing. He had noticed the way that Hinata and Naruto acted when in each others company. He had seen the look in their eyes. And if there was to happen anything, then the betrothal would be called off. He really couldn't see and down side to it, except the fact that the two might be a bit shocked once they found out about it. Whilst Kakashi was thinking, Hiashi was staring at him intently, reading his actions, which gave him a basic idea of what he was thinking, so far so good was all he could think himself.

"You don't have to reply to it today if you don't want to. There is no need to hurry, after all, they are still young…" Hiashi stopped as Kakashi put up his hand, motioning for him to stop talking and listen, which he then did.

"I have come to a conclusion, and I would like to take you up on that offer." Hiashi then smiled as he opened one of the higher drawers, pulling out several pieces of paper, which both of them would need to sign before they would be sent to the Hokage, as they would also need his approval on the betrothal, though they had no doubt that he would also think it a good idea. Indeed, it had been a very productive day.

_3__RD__ FLASHBACK_

It was Hinata's tenth birthday, the twenty seventh of December and Naruto, who had turned ten on the tenth of October, was there. It was only those two and Hiashi and Kakashi. This was the day that they had decided to inform the two betrothed about the proposal. Though the third had argued that it might have been too early for them, the others had argued that they would probably want to know as soon as possible, also that if they found out later, then they might be angry at them for not telling them earlier. So they had decided to tell them when they were both ten, when they were both in double digits.

"Now Hinata, Naruto, you are probably wandering why we have asked that you come in here alone." Said two people nodded. "Well, the reason is quite simple, though it may and probably will be a shock for you two… You see, both I and Kakashi have noticed that your friendship is, how should I say, blooming and that you both act differently when around each other. We knew that feelings had started to emerge so… "By now, both Naruto and Hinata had bright red faces. "… we have betrothed you two to one another." Just as these words left the lips of Hiashi, the two ten years olds fainted. They finally woke up again about half an hour later to find that the two of them were alone together, so they decided to go to their favourite spot, as it was Hinata's birthday after all. When there, they saw that the sun was setting, turning the sky from it's usual bright blue, to a warm orange sky which had hints of pink every now and then. There was no wind and there was no-one else around, it was just the two of them. They were both sitting on the grass, side by side as they were both leaning back on their arms.

Once the sun was completely gone, they both decided that it was time to head back. Naruto stood up first, he then offered a hand to Hinata, which she took as he pulled her off the ground. However, he used a bit too much strength whilst doing so, as she came up at a startling speed and ended up in Naruto's arms, but neither of them let go as they were both lost in the other's eyes, one looking at deep pools of crystal blue, the other looking at heavenly spheres of innocence. Both of them seemed to be lost in time as hours could have easily gone by without either of them noticing. Slowly, both of their heads drew nearer to the other, their eye lids slowly drooping as they stopped when their lips met. The kiss was passionate, yet still innocent as it only lasted for mere two seconds, but it felt like an eternity, one which they both loved. It was this day that they found out that they were meant to be.

_END FLASHBACK_

Kakashi had been staring out into space for a while and his two remaining teammates were now getting slightly worried, sometimes poking him in the arm, waving a hand in front of his face or giving him a light shake on the shoulder. They had even tried calling his name a few times, but nothing seemed to work, they were about to give up when,

"Oh, sorry… I must have spaced out…" Sasuke and Sakura both sweatdropped at their sensei.

"Urr… yeah, you kinda did…" Sakura replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What was the question again?"

"You were about to explain how Hinata came to be Naruto's fiancée…"

"I don't remember agreeing to explain that to you…"

"Oh come on, just tell us!" The kunoichi of team seven was now getting pissed off. It was a simple question with a simple answer, so why were there no results. Sakura crossed her arms tightly together on her chest and huffed. But deep inside, she was heart-broken, _Oh Naruto-kun… How could you… We were meant to be together… Why didn't you even tell us, your own teammates…_

Kakashi saw the look of disappointment in Sakura's eyes. "Sakura, if you want to know things about Naruto, then he would be the best person to ask. As he would obviously know everything and he would be able to tell you what he felt right to tell and keep what should be kept, as I might tell you something that Naruto wanted to keep a secret. So, next time, ask Naruto, OK?" Sakura thought for a second and nodded in defeat.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was still down on the ground from when he fell at the news he had learnt about the guy whom he had considered a friend, a brother even. Why hadn't he told him about it. hHe was completely speechless. But he knew that there must be a reason for keeping it a secret, so he would let it rest until some other time, when things had settled down again.

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**Okay, hope it wasn't too awful but, as I said earlier, I was having writers block, also, I have been writing for my new fic 'From The Waves', so it's been a bit hectic... Also, the polls are still going, but I can't be bothered to re-write them here, so you'll have to look on the previous page to see them... please vote, need some more votes... thank you to everyone who has already voted and reviewed, but, as I said before, you can bote for as many as you want and as many times as you want... Oh, and if you do see grammer mistakes and the sort, feel free to point it out, as I hate having grammer mistakes... Until the next time...**


	9. Here I Come

**I'm so sorry that my updating has been taking so long, I haven't had that much time lately, not quite sure why and I have been having some writers block. I know it's not really an excuse, but that's just how it is... Anyway, Enjoy...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. (Only Chie so far)**

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After receiving the scroll which contained all of the information about team eights mission, Naruto had run as fast as he could towards the gates, not even returning home to get necessities for the mission, he didn't want to waste any time, he just wanted to get to them before it was too late, even Chie was off of his shoulder and was now flying right beside our young blond. As soon as he reached the gates, he was told to stop but then told them that he needed to help team eight and that it was urgent. His voice was one not to argue with, so the guards didn't as they opened the gates with the blond whizzing through, soon being out of sight of the guards. As he was running, he was so concentrated on his destination that he didn't notice that it had begun to rain and that the sky was turning dark as the grey clouds were looming over him. Within minutes, Naruto was drenched and his hair was drooping down from its usual spiky position as it was now soaked all the way down to his scalp. His mask was also drenched and was clinging even more tightly to his face, showing more of his features which couldn't usually be seen. Thunder was roaring in the distance whilst lightning was shooting across the, now almost, pitch black sky. But still, Naruto hadn't noticed any of this, he was focused on one thing and one thing alone, bring back Hinata, alive. And her team as well, of course, that only taking second priority. 

After hours of non-stop running, he had finally reached the destination allocated in the scroll. When he stopped, he finally noticed that his legs were aching and going slightly numb, but still, this didn't bother him. He roamed his eyes over the large area and found what he was looking for. A couple hundred meters away, he saw two bodies, lying on the cold and muddy ground, whilst there was a short figure fighting against a larger figure and there was also another tall figure, who was fighting against two other figures who looked slightly broader then the rest. Naruto was too far away to see who was who, so he ran over to the sight, but, just as he got there, he saw the first figure get a hit to the back by her opponent and she fell to the ground, her eyes slowly closing. Time seemed to slow down as he saw who it was who was falling. He shouted out her name, but no sound came from his lips. He collapsed to the ground and looked up again, seeing that the other two figures on the ground were Hinata's teammates; Kiba and Shino. It was only Kurenai who was fighting now, she had been struggling with two opponents, but three, that was just too much for her, so Naruto decided that it was time for him to finally help them, instead of just sitting there, being completely unhelpful.

As he stood, he felt power in his attempt to get up, he felt stronger and faster. He looked in a puddle and saw that his eye had tuned from his normal enchanting blue, to it's deadly crimson red, along with the dangerously thin slit instead of a round pupil (note, one of his eyes was already like that). Naruto pushed the right side of his hitai-ite up, revealing his other eye. He felt changes occur in his body, but not like they did the last time, in the wave country. This time, he felt that he had more control over it, it wasn't out of control. His nails had grown into sharp claws, though shorter then the last time. His canines grew a little into fangs, but this time they did not pierce his mask, which had been repaired after the last time.

It was just then that Kurenai noticed the blond, as she had been too into her fight. She was about to call for him, but she had to duck a high kick, only just dodging it in time to duck out of the way. She didn't try to contact Naruto again, as she knew she wouldn't be as lucky the next time.

Naruto was shaking, not with fear, but with pure anger. Pure anger which was directed completely at the attacking nins. He felt his blood beginning to boil as he let out a vast amount of killing intent, freezing the nins for a few seconds, even Kurenai was frozen, though none of the killer intent was directed at her, but she soon recovered as one of her opponents had just thrown a kunai at her, barely scraping the skin on Kurenai's left arm, as she had just jumped. During this time, Chie had been thinking of what would be best to do. Either he would help to defeat the opponents and Naruto would get everyone back to safety, or the other way round. They couldn't both fight, as they would probably get too exhausted to return home, so that wasn't an option. _If I am to be the one who returns them all to the village, then I am I going to get them all to the hospital, I'll be too big if I'm in my full size, which I would have to be if I were to fly with them all on my back, but to get them back, I must fly… So I guess that Naruto will have to be the one who gets everyone back…_

"Naruto… Naruto!"

"What is it Chie, hurry up, I need to go and help them!"

"No, you'll stay here, I'll go in and fight, and when we're done, you'll need to create a couple shadow clones which can carry us back to Konoha to the hospital. There is a very powerful, but extremely exhausting jutsu which will allow you to move at an abnormal speed. It is a demonic jutsu, so you know what will probably happen. It'll come to you when you need it, trust me on this… Understood?" As Chie finished, Naruto had been looking at the dragon with a look of horror on his face, _how could he prevent him from fighting when the person he loves the most is in danger? _"Naruto, you need to do this, it is the only way." Naruto narrowed his eye to think but eventually nodded his head slightly as he knew that he couldn't find a way to not follow the plan. Chie gave a quick smile as he grew slightly, his height now the same as Naruto's when he was down on his legs with his head as high up as possible. Chie began to flap his wings as he began to fly and soared over to the battle scene, leaving Naruto to stay and watch, preparing to escape with everyone.

When Chie reached the battle scene, he smirked as Kurenai had just managed a punch in the jaw of the taller of the three foreign nins. Said nin placed a hand up to said jaw to readjust it, putting it back in its original place, releasing a spine-tickling crack whilst doing so. Once Kurenai saw the dragon heading her way she smiled mentally to herself, this would make it so much easier now that she only had one opponent to fight, and back up for that matter. Chie flew straight at his chosen opponent, seeming like he was heading in for a bite, but within breathing distance, Chie drew his wings back in as his scaled body seemed to shoot through the air like a bullet, rotating his body clockwise. Just as he was nearly past the enemy, he lashed out his tail and whipped the man hard on the shoulder, making aloud thump. The arm was now almost useless. Chie showed a quick smirk before continuing with the attack. His opponent threw a shurikan at Chie with his good arm, but Chie managed to dodge it elegantly, like all of this was some sort of dance routine which had been practiced to perfection. Chie was heading towards the man again, but just before their collision, Chie would suddenly steer to the side. This was repeated over and over again, confusing the nin more and more each time, making his moves and attacks more sloppy and ill-placed.

Chie's plan was working, just a few more times and he could be finished and Chie would start on the other shinobi which had taken a break from the fighting and was sitting on the wet earth whilst studying his soon to be opponent.

Chie then stopped his confusing attacks to hover in the air, a few meters away from his opponent. He opened his jaw, bearing his sharp white teeth. A small blue flame began to form, which grew in size with every passing second. Soon it was the size of a bowling ball and it stopped but remained right in front of the dragons jaws. Fire seemed to be swirling around in the ball, ranging from dark blues to light blues. When it seemed to be complete, Chie then inhaled a large amount of air, his chest increasing in size due to this. When no more could be taken in, there was a gleam in the dragons eye as he was about to release the attack, shooting the blue flames orb at the enemy, with incredible speed due to all of the air inhaled which was now being used to increase the already fast speed of the orb. Within a blink, the opponent had been hit and sent flying nearly twenty meters behind from his previous position, landing on the earth and creating a crater which already had a pool of blood mixed with rain water and dirt, creating a dark red swamp, with the body half subdued in it, creating a very gruesome sight that anyone would want to forget.

But the fight wasn't over as there were still more to come. Meanwhile, with Kurenai, their fight had seemed evenly matched, as they had both had their fair share of hits, both also receiving around the same amount. Both of them were tiring, but neither were going to give up, so their fight continued. The opposition threw a punch at her which she quickly blocked but then he made a quick swipe kick, managing to hit one of her legs as she fell down to one knee. She let out a light groan at the pain. When her opponent was about to finish her of with a chakra enforced punch to the head, she grabbed a kunai from her pouched and pushed it right through the mans chest, blood spluttering out from the deep wound, the man waving slightly from side to side and coughing out blood from his mouth. Right before he fell he spat at Kurenai, a mixture of his blood and spit and fell to the ground, landing in an awkward position, which would have been unbearable had he been alive. Kurenai mentally gave herself a pat on the back before collapsing to the ground, mud soaking into her already blood stained clothing. Now, the only ones standing were Chie, his last opponent, and, of course, Naruto, who had been watching the whole thing, using every ounce of control he had within himself to stop himself from running in to join the fight. Many times he had been tempted but only just managed to stay put, as he had seen what Chie could do and he didn't want to face someone like him, no, not at all, never. Naruto was brave and all, but never would he want to go up against Chie, unless it was to protect Hinata of course. These were the types of thoughts that ran through Naruto's brain as he watched the fights going on in front of him. It hadn't even occurred to him that he should go and check on how the others were doing. Sometimes, he really was such a blond.

Anyway, back to Chie. The last fight had taken quite a bit out of Chie due to the attack he had used and the fact that he hadn't been doing that much physical work for a couple of years, or a couple of decades, as there was no need, though now he realised that he would also need to train along with his blond companion, but that had to wait as he had one last person to finish off.

His opponent had a smirk on his face, with one side of it raised higher then the other with an evil gleam in his eye. "Well… this should be fun. I've never fought a dragon before, so I'll enjoy this…" But before he got a chance to finish his little plan, Chie had already begun with his attacks. At first he flew straight at him, bearing his teeth with the intention of biting the opponent, but failed as he was struck to the head at the last minute, however, just as Chie was about to hit the ground, he managed to flap his wings at the last second, gliding along the ground until reaching a height of about ten meters above the nin. Said nin threw several shurikans at Chie, all of them at high speed, Chie only barely managing to dodge most of them, a handful of them managing to graze his belly, which was one of the softer areas of his body, whereas his back, legs and head would have incredibly hard scaled covering them. A small trickle of blood came from the wound, but it didn't really bother Chie that much, he has had worse, much worse.

Chie begins to take a large intake of air, his chest slowly rising. When no more could be taken in, he held it, aiming it at his opponent. When satisfied, he threw his head back, only to throw it forward again, releasing the huge amount of wind which was powerful enough to uproot a large tree from the ground, however, he hadn't expected his opponent to be so quick on his feet, as Chie's attack was almost impossible to dodge. Everything which was within a twenty meter radius of where his opponent had previously been standing had been utterly destroyed and ripped to shreds, leaving a large crater as well. _Damn… I'm loosing energy and chakra too quickly at this rate… I need to finish him in the next move, otherwise, I'll be too exhausted to carry on, and that is not an option… Guess I'll have to use that technique…_ Chie was pondering to himself whilst he was still hovering up high in the air. Meanwhile, his opponent was slowly reaching his hand behind his back, seeming like he was going to withdraw something, but he never got the chance as Chie started his descent down towards him at a speed that was nearly impossible to follow, even for someone with the Sharingan or Byakugan. Within a second, Chie had reached the nin, but it didn't end there, as he grabbed the nin with his claws from all four legs and began flying up again until he had reached a height of fifty meters, when there, Chie then started to flying up and down in a circle to gain momentum for the final blow. As soon as there was enough he began the descent again, but much faster then before, when only two meters from the ground, he released the nin to go crashing down deep into the ground, dying the instance that he hit the earth. Chie just managed to glide right above the ground, losing speed fast as he landed on the ground roughly, splattering mud all over his body and slowly falling asleep from exhaustion.

On the sidelines, Naruto had been watching the whole thing. As soon as Chie had hit the ground, he put his hands together, forming a cross with his fingers and mumbled "Shadow Clone Jutsu." Just then, four shadow clones appeared, who ran over a grabbed Shino, Kiba, Kurenai and Chie, placing them all on there backs in a piggy back position. Meanwhile, the real Naruto had run over and placed Hinata gently on his back. Suddenly, Naruto could feel this burning sensation within him, and he had a feeling what it could be, or at least, he hoped it would be what he thought it would be. The four clones and Naruto stood in a line next to each other as the burning sensation was growing, wisps pf red and orange chakra was appearing and in the blink of an eye, they were all gone, leaving a disappearing trail of their chakra, heading towards Konoha.

_**A few minutes later…**_

Two chuunin guards had been standing in the tower above the gates, watching over it and its surroundings, when suddenly, there was a red flash and the gates flew open, nearly ripping them off their hinges, but luckily, they stayed strong. Within seconds of the flash came a strong wave of wind, nearly making the two guards lose their balance at they stared at the gate in horror, and even more confusion.

After Naruto and his clones had made it through the gate, they headed straight for the hospital, not caring if he ran into anyone or anything on the way. He soon reached the hospital, now back to his normal speed. He rushed inside of the doors and many of the medics present in the room looked at him in disbelief. But Naruto didn't take any notice, he just ran over to the desk and shouted, as quietly as he could, "Please, they need help…" Naruto then fell unconscious to the floor, with Hinata on his back and his clones then poofed away, leaving the others to fall to the ground, but were luckily caught by the nearer medics, who rushed team eight and Naruto into rooms to be analysed and healed. However, they weren't quite sure what to do with the dragon, so they placed him in a room to sleep, as he just seemed tired to them, with only a minor wound on his chest, which they bandaged.

_**Five days later…**_

Hinata had been dreaming, having nightmares about the last mission, not knowing what the outcome of it was. She had dreamed of so many possibilities that she began to thin that's she was dead. That is, until she started waking up, feeling pain in her chest which, to her, was a good sign as it meant that she was indeed, still alive. As she slowly began to open her eyes, she shut them tight together as the light was too bright. After a minute or two, her eyes had readjusted and she was now taking in her surroundings. The ceiling was white, as were the walls. She was in a bed which was, unsurprisingly, covered with white sheets. To her right was a plain wooden door and to her left, she saw some people standing, with their backs to her. She began to try to sit up but couldn't as the pain built up in her chest, letting out a groan, which had been heard by the others who had now turned around to face her. She saw that they were Naruto's teammates and his sensei, but he wasn't there. A though popped up in her mind, Naruto is in the hospital, lying on the neighboring bed. Her eyes began to become watery and slightly red as a tear started rolling down her pale cheek. "Na-na-naruto-kun…" She mumbled in her cries. "Wh-what happened to him?"

Kakashi looked behind him and then forward again, looking straight at Hinata before speaking, "He came after you and your team as soon as he heard that you were in trouble. But don't worry, he's fine, he was just extremely exhausted and he had incredibly low chakra levels when he got here with your team. I'm not quite sure what happened though." Kakashi then saw the look of guilt in Hinata's eyes. "The doctors just said that he needs to rest, that's all. Kurenai is already up and running and both Kiba and Shino are have been awake for about a day." At this, Hinata became a little more at ease. "We're glad to see that you're up as well." Hinata gave a small smile as she forced herself to sit up, completely ignoring the pain. Sakura was about to help her back down again but Kakashi placed a hand in front of her.

When Hinata finally sat up, she started moving her legs to the side so that they would be dangling out by the side of the bed.

"Hinata, the doctors said that you also need to rest and take it easy." But Kakashi went ignored. Hinata stood up and stumbled a bit but quickly regained her balance as she made her way to the bed which had Naruto on it. She sat down on the chair which was next the bed and took Naruto's hand in to her own, softly crying inside. But then, she felt a movement in her hand and looked into it to find that Naruto moved his hand. She looked at him and found him stirring, a smile appearing on her face.

"What's… going… on?" Naruto managed to say whilst he yawned, rather ungracefully if I might add. "Where am… I?" It was then when he realised where he was, as it was easy as it was the only place in Konoha to have everything in a blinding white colour; the hospital. "What am I doing here?" Naruto tried to sit up but was pushed down gently by a pale hand. Naruto looked up to see who owned the hand and saw that it was none others then Hinatas. Naruto smiled. "Hinata you're alright." Hinata nodded sweetly but soon she looked away with more guilt showing in her eyes.

"What's wrong Hinata?"

"I'm sorry Naruto."

"Sorry for what?"

"For… for putting you in danger like that…"

"In danger? Hinata, that wasn't your' fault, if anyone's it would either be my own or those damned shinobi who attacked you. I did it on my own accord." Naruto put a hand up to Hinata's left cheek and caressed it slightly. "Now, could you please help me sit up? This mattress isn't very good for my back." Hinata let out a soft chuckle as she helped him up, grabbing her own pillow to place behind Naruto's back as he was sitting up against the blinding white wall.

Kakashi then motioned for both Sakura and Sasuke to go out of the room to let Naruto and Hinata be together alone. Sakura nodded and went out first, followed by Kakashi. Sasuke walked out more slowly, stopping at the door to turn around to see both Hinata and Naruto sitting on the edge of the bed, side by side and Naruto's arm over Hinata's shoulder. He smiled to himself before going out and closing the door shut. All the while thinking,_ Good for you Naruto, good for you..._

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**Ok guys (and girls) I hoped you liked it. I'm not that good at fighting scenes, so I tried my best... Hope they weren't too bad... Poll is still going... Also, this is my longest chapter so far, almost reaching 4,000 words. It might not seem a lot, but it is a lot to write... for me at least...**


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